SHARM EL-SHEIKH - World leaders and diplomats framed the fight against global warming as a battle for human survival during opening speeches at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Monday , with the head of the United Nations declaring a lack of progress so far had the world speeding down a "highway to hell".
Despite decades of climate talks so far, countries have failed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, and their pledges to do so in the future are insufficient to keep the climate from warming to a level scientists say will be catastrophic. French President Emmanuel Macron said that, while the world was distracted by a confluence of global crises, it was important not to sacrifice national commitments to fight climate change.
"Climate security goes hand in hand with energy security, Putin's abhorrent war in Ukraine, and rising energy prices across the world are not a reason to go slow on climate change. They are a reason to act faster," he said.While leaders tended to agree on the risks of global warming, their speeches revealed huge rifts, including over whether fossil fuels could play a role in a climate-friendly future, and who should pay for climate damage that has already occurred.
The UAE will host next year's UN conference, which will attempt to finalise agreements made last year in Britain and at this year's Egyptian talks. Signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement had pledged to achieve a long-term goal of keeping global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the threshold beyond which scientists say climate change risks spinning out of control.
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