UK's Johnson warns world leaders as climate summit begins

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GLASGOW – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has opened a planetary clime summit, saying the satellite is strapped to a “doomsday device.”

Johnson likened the Earth’s presumption to that of fictional concealed cause James Bond — strapped to a weaponry that volition destruct the satellite and trying to enactment retired however to defuse it.

He told leaders Monday that “we are successful astir the aforesaid position” — lone present the “ticking doomsday device” is existent and not fiction.

He was kicking disconnected the satellite leaders' acme information of a U.N. clime conference, which is aimed astatine getting statement to curb c emissions accelerated capable to support planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) beneath pre-industrial levels.

Britain’s person struck a gloomy enactment connected the eve of the conference, aft Group of 20 leaders made lone humble clime commitments astatine their acme successful Rome.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier communicative follows below.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — It’s clip for much than 130 satellite leaders to feel the heat.

They volition traipse to the podium Monday and Tuesday astatine important international clime talks successful Scotland and speech astir what their state is going to bash astir the threat of planetary warming. From U.S. President Joe Biden to Seychelles President Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan, they are expected to accidental however their federation volition bash its utmost, situation colleagues to bash much and mostly crook up the rhetoric.

“Humanity has agelong since tally down the timepiece connected clime change,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was expected to accidental during Monday’s opening session, according to partial remarks released by his bureau precocious Sunday. “It’s 1 infinitesimal to midnight and we request to enactment now.”

The biggest names, including Biden, Johnson, India’s Narendra Modi, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Ibrahim Solih, president of hard deed Maldives, volition take the stage Monday.

And past the leaders volition leave.

The thought is that they volition bash the large governmental give-and-take, mounting retired wide outlines of agreement, and past person different authorities officials hammer retired the nagging but important details. That’s what worked to marque the historical 2015 Paris climate woody a success, erstwhile U.N. Climate Secretary Christiana Figueres told The Associated Press.

“For heads of state, it is really a overmuch amended usage of their strategical thinking,” Figueres said.

In Paris, the 2 signature goals — trying to bounds warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times and nett zero c emissions by 2050 — were created by this leaders-first process, Figueres said. In the unsuccessful 2009 Copenhagen gathering the leaders swooped successful astatine the end.

Thousands lined up successful a chilly upwind successful the Scottish metropolis of Glasgow connected Monday to get done a bottleneck astatine the entranceway to the venue. But what volition beryllium noticeable are a fistful of large absences astatine the acme known arsenic COP26.

Xi Jinping, president of apical carbon-polluting federation China, won’t beryllium successful Glasgow. Figueres said his lack isn’t that large a woody due to the fact that helium isn't leaving the state during the pandemic and his clime envoy is simply a seasoned negotiator.

Biden, however, has chided China and Russia for their little than ambitious efforts to curb emissions and blamed them for a disappointing connection connected clime alteration from the Group of 20 acme of the world's largest economies successful Rome this weekend.

Perhaps much troublesome for the U.N. acme is the lack of respective tiny nations from the Pacific islands that couldn’t marque it due to the fact that of COVID-19 restrictions and logistics. That’s a large occupation due to the fact that their voices relay urgency, Figueres said.

In addition, the heads of respective large emerging economies beyond China are besides skipping the summit, including those from Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa. That leaves India’s Modi the lone person contiguous from the alleged BRICS nations, which relationship for much than 40% of planetary emissions.

Kevin Conrad, a negotiator from Papua New Guinea who besides chairs the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, said he’s watching the large carbon-polluting nations. “I deliberation it’s truly important for the United States and China to amusement enactment arsenic the 2 largest emitters. If some of them tin amusement it tin beryllium done, I deliberation they springiness anticipation to the remainder of the world,” helium said.

Scientists accidental the chances of gathering the extremity to support planetary temperatures from rising by much than 1.5 degrees Celsius this period are dilatory slipping away. The satellite has already warmed by much than 1.1C and existent projections based connected planned emissions cuts implicit the adjacent decennary are for it to deed 2.7C by the twelvemonth 2100.

The amount of vigor unleashed by specified warming would melt overmuch of the planet’s ice, rise planetary oversea levels and greatly summation the likelihood and strength of utmost weather, experts say.

But earlier the U.N. clime summit, the G-20 leaders, astatine the adjacent of their meeting, offered vague clime pledges alternatively of commitments of steadfast action, saying they would question c neutrality “by oregon astir mid-century.” The countries besides agreed to extremity nationalist financing for coal-fired powerfulness procreation abroad, but acceptable nary people for phasing retired ember domestically — a wide motion to China and India.

The G-20 countries correspond much than three-quarters of the world’s climate-damaging emissions and acme big Italy, and Britain, which is hosting the Glasgow conference, had been hoping for much ambitious targets coming retired of Rome.

India, the world’s third-biggest emitter, has yet to travel China, the U.S. and the European Union successful mounting a people for reaching "net zero" emissions. Negotiators are hoping Modi volition denote specified a extremity successful Glasgow.

The Biden medication has tried hard to temper expectations that 2 weeks of clime talks volition nutrient large breakthroughs connected cutting climate-damaging emissions.

Rather than a speedy fix, “Glasgow is the opening of this decennary race, if you will,” Biden’s clime envoy, John Kerry, told reporters Sunday.

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Associated Press writers Frank Jordans and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s clime sum astatine https://apnews.com/hub/climate. Follow Seth Borenstein connected Twitter astatine @borenbears.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives enactment from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely liable for each content.

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