China and Russia must “do more” for climate change says Alok Sharma as COP26 nears
The president of COP26 says climate change affects us all – but that “big emitters” China, India and Russia “need to do more”, as the summit is around 100 days away.
The global COP26 climate summit is scheduled to take place in Glasgow in November, after being delayed because of the pandemic.
“China, India, Russia — those big emitters need to do more. We all need to play our part. Climate change affects us all, whether that’s Europe, Africa or Asia” Alok Sharma, the former business secretary, told The Sun.
Ahead of the summit the politician said he hopes to pay a visit to China in which, he said, he won’t shy away from putting pressure on the global emitters to cut their greenhouse gases.
China is aiming to bring its emissions to a peak before 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2060.
To emphasise the urgency of the issue, Sharma said the world could not afford any more delays to the summit since “climate change didn’t take time off” during the pandemic.
The COP26 lead, who has been dubbed “Alok Airmiles” by critics, referred to his recent trip to the Caribbean, which was hit by Hurricane Irma in 2017, to demonstrate the impact of climate change.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued invitations to both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping to join COP26 talks earlier this year.