Biden says COP26 should be the start of a decade of ambition

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, spoke at COP26, the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change, in Glasgow, Scotland, this Monday (1st).

During his speech on the first day of the summit, Biden said COP26 should be the start of a decade of ambition and innovation for the environment. “Glasgow should kick-start a decade of ambition and innovation to preserve our common future,” he said.

He also called for quick action to combat the climate crisis and told other world leaders that only a “short window” remains. [de tempo]” for nations to adopt measures to reduce emissions.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson opened the event on Monday. He compared the climate crisis to a “time bomb” that needs to be defused and demanded concrete actions from world leaders.

“We found the eyes of history upon us and a deep question before us. It’s simple: are we going to act? Will we do what is necessary? Are we going to take advantage of the enormous opportunity before us? Or we will condemn future generations to suffer,” said Biden.

“This is the decade that will determine the answer,” added the US president. He acknowledged that climate change is devastating the world, “destroying people’s lives and livelihoods” and costing countries trillions of dollars.

During his speech, Biden mentioned floods, fires and other disasters that have become more frequent in recent years. Scientists point out that these phenomena have occurred more frequently due to climate change.

“Record of heat and drought fueling more widespread forest fires, in some places there is damage to crops among others. What used to be a once-in-a-century storm happens every few years. In recent months, the United States has gone through all of this.”

“We are at a turning point in world history,” added Biden. “We have the ability to invest in ourselves and build a clean and equitable energy future and, in the process, create millions of well-paying jobs and opportunities around the world.”

‘Threat to human existence as we know it’

For Biden, the climate crisis is an “existential threat to human existence as we know it”. He asked world leaders for a commitment to reducing emissions. “This is the challenge of our collective lives. The existential threat to human existence as we know it. And every day we increase the costs of inaction,” said Biden.

The US president continued: “So, let this be the time for us to respond to the call of history here in Glasgow.”

“May this be the beginning of a decade of transformative actions that preserve our planet and raise the quality of life for people everywhere. We can do it. We just have to make a choice to do this. So let’s get to work,” Biden said.