The 

UN secretary general called for all countries to declare a “climate

emergency” until global CO2 emissions reach net zero at a key global summit at
which the world’s top emitters held back from making ambitious new
commitments.

Speaking at the start of a 2020 Climate Ambition Summit, Antonio Guterres

said the world was “still not going in the right direction” five years on from the
historic Paris Agreement.

“CO2 levels are at a record high. Today, we are 1.2C hotter than before the
industrial revolution,” he said. “Can anybody still deny that we are in a climate
emergency?”

Both China and India, the world’s largest and third-largest contributors to global
emissions respectively, failed to significantly raise their ambition to tackle the
climate crisis at the summit.

The talks, convened jointly by the UK, France and the UN, had been billed as a
key “kick-off event” for Cop26, a major global climate summit which is to be
hosted by the UK next year. Speaking at the end of Satuday’s summit, Alok
Sharma, Cop26 president and business secretary, said that “real progress” had
been made.

“However, [people across the world] will also ask if we have done enough to
put the world on track to limit warming to 1.5C, and protect people and nature
from the effects of climate change. To make the Paris Agreement is a reality.

“Friends, we must be honest with ourselves, the answer to that, is currently: no.
As encouraging as all this ambition is, it is not enough. And the clock continues
to tick.”

Forty-five countries pledged to reduce emissions in the short-term, and 24

outlined plans to reach net zero emissions, he said. However, analysts have
noted that many of these pledges are repeats of previous commitments.

Mr Sharma called for every country to “step up” and set tougher climate pledges
ahead of Cop26 next year. He also urged high-income countries to give more
funding to low-income countries to help them slash their emissions.
He said: “The UK is doubling its contribution to international climate finance. I
ask all donor countries to join us. Match our ambition.”

Jennifer Morgan, the executive director of Greenpeace International, said the

talks made “clear how far away we are from seeing the kind of leadership we
need”.

She said: “The meeting today was nowhere close to showing that leadership.
Many countries contributing to the Climate Ambition Summit ignored the
‘ambition’ part and apparently still lack the moral courage to stand up to the
fossil fuel industry.”

Chinese president Xi Jinping announced a new pledge to cut his country’s CO2
emissions per unit of GDP by over 65 per cent by 2030 compared to levels in
2005.

But this pledge was described as only “an incremental step forward” by one
analyst and “business as usual to 2030” by another.

The US was not represented at the event, after Donald Trump officially pulled
the country out of the Paris Agreement in November.

However, during the summit, president-elect Joe Biden tweeted to repeat his
pledge to rejoin the Paris Agreement on his first day in the White House.

“We’re going to rally the world to push our progress further and faster and
tackle the climate crisis head-on,” he tweeted.

Tim Gore, head of climate policy at Oxfam, said “developing countries deserve
better and need more” than what was offered at the talks.

“The climate ambition summit lacked real ambition,” he said. “World leaders
must step up in the next 12 critical months to pull the world back from the brink
of catastrophic climate change.”  

“Commitments to near-term emissions cuts are still insufficient to limit

warming to the 1.5C Paris goal, and the summit was all but silent on the
question of new funds to lower income countries to help them adapt to climate
change and decarbonise their economies.”
Some of the more ambitious new pledges were put forward by leaders from
developing world countries, which historically have contributed the least to the
climate crisis.

Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, pledged that the country would stop
building new coal power plants.

Speaking at the summit, he said that Pakistan had historically caused less than 1
per cent of global emissions. “Yet, and sadly, we are the fifth vulnerable country
to climate change,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Maldives pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2030,

conditional on financial aid from wealthier nations. Peru, Rwanda and Kenya
also made tougher pledges to tackle their emissions by 2030.

Both the UK and the EU repeated pledges they had made in recent days to up
their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.  

In his opening talk, Boris Johnson repeated a pledge to reduce the country’s

emissions by at least 68 per cent by 2030, when compared to 1990 levels. This
commitment was first made on 3 December.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the EU
would slash its emissions by 55 per cent by 2030, when compared to 1990
levels. This commitment was first made a day before the summit on 11
December.

Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Massachusetts,

and a former UN climate envoy, said: “We have seen today from leaders in the
UK, China, EU and Pakistan they are committed to the low carbon transition.

“We are not moving fast enough, but we are moving. We should heed the words
of Antonio Guterres: all countries should declare a climate emergency, divert
investments away from fossil fuels and ensure the poorest countries have access
to support. We cannot hand to our children a mountain of debt and a broken
planet.”