Speech

PM address at the COP26 Action and Solidarity session: 1 November 2021

Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the COP26 Action and Solidarity session in Glasgow.

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government
皇冠体育app Rt Hon Boris Johnson

Thank you everybody and welcome to this session on action and solidarity.

I鈥檓 going to kick off with giving you my perspective because this is about all of us taking the concrete steps that will actually help the countries around the world that need it most.

When it comes to tackling climate change, words without action, without deeds are absolutely pointless.

And our record on deeds so far is not exactly stellar - we had a brilliant speech from Mia Mottley of Barbados making the point.

Back in Paris, richer nations all signed the paper saying that by 2020 we鈥檇 be raising $100 billion of climate finance each year and there was no ambiguity, no wiggle room in that.

But that deadline has come and gone and yet it鈥檚 going to be 2023 before we hit the target.

So, that was one of our very first post-Paris tests and we鈥檝e collectively flunked it.

But of course getting there eventually is better than not getting there at all.

But if we are late again with the 1.5 or with the rest of the 1.5c challenge then we will have left it far too late.

And as anybody who was in that session at UNGA will remember, the testimony is of those that are on the front line, the countries that face cataclysmic inundations, the countries that face the hurricanes, they really will not forgive us.

皇冠体育appy are looking at what鈥檚 happening at this COP, and we need to think about them and take action now to prevent loss and damage on a truly catastrophic scale. We鈥檝e got to take action on their behalf.

So I鈥檝e got to say to everybody who belongs to one of the richer and more developed nations, that as the host country for COP26 and with Alok on my right as the President of COP26鈥�

鈥f I鈥檓 forced to choose between those who speak up and who have spoken up passionately for more support urgently because they need it in the most vulnerable countries in the world鈥�

鈥�.if I鈥檓 forced to choose between them and countries like my own, I鈥檓 backing the first group - I鈥檓 backing the most vulnerable.

And I want you to know we have your back and we are going to support you.

Because that is the only way to make the change that we need, and I hope that in the course of the next two weeks, the contributor nations will tell their negotiators to stick to that objective and to get to the conclusion we want.

Finally, if anybody tries to row back on some of the commitments they have made and if we feel things aren鈥檛 going fast enough, then it鈥檚 a clear fact that I become Foreign Secretary nearly 6 years ago now, and in that time I鈥檝e picked up a lot of mobile phone numbers which is stored in my iPhone鈥�

鈥nd I will not hesitate to use that privilege and get on to you and urge you to do more.

And if we鈥檙e going to make a success if the COP, if we鈥檙e going to deliver for the countries that need it If we鈥檙e going to tackle climate change then we must raise that finance and understand the position they鈥檙e in.

Thank you all very much.

Updates to this page

Published 1 November 2021