The annual United Nations Climate Change Conference — hosted in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt — started Sunday and is to run through Nov. 18.
U.K. representative Alok Sharma, president of COP26, opened the conference with fervor as he described a “critical decade” regarding climate change and called for a collective “concrete action” from leaders and citizens, per the U.N. Climate Change Conference transcript.
In this decade of the climate crisis, he said, there has already been severe flooding in Nigeria and Pakistan and record-setting droughts in the United States, Europe and China, which have strained the global supply chain and forced people out of their homes.
“So, this conference must be about concrete action,” Sharma said.
Recapping last year’s conference, COP26, at GlencoE, Scotland, Sharma said that “emissions in 2030 are expected to be around six gigatons lower,” which is 12% of all global emissions now.
The original goal of only a 1.5-degrees Celsius increase in global temperatures remains just out of grasp, with a U.N. report suggesting a 1.7-degree increase will happen by 2030. That’s just 0.2 degrees from the original goal, but it’s not enough, said Sharma.
“Just as every report shows that we are making some progress, they are equally clear that there is so much more to be done in this critical decade,” Sharma said.
He called on both citizens and leaders worldwide to put climate change as the top priority, as an all-hands-on-deck job, because the problem isn’t going anywhere.
“And whilst I do understand that leaders around the world have faced competing priorities this year,” he said, “we must be clear. As challenging as our current moment is, inaction is myopic, and can only defer climate catastrophe.”
While there’s still much to be done “in the remainder of this decisive decade,” said Sharma, he ultimately believes that it is possible to save the world from further climate change by simplifying it down to action.
“We know how to do it,” Sharma said. “So now friends, let’s make sure we deliver, let’s make it happen.”