Progress made at COP26 summit as 90% of world signed up to net zero, says UK's Boris Johnson

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

GLASGOW, Scotland (AA) – There is no doubt that “some progress have been made” at the UN Climate Change Summit, where many world leaders and thousands of delegates have been meeting in Glasgow, Scotland the British prime minister said Tuesday evening.

Closing the leaders’ summit at the COP26, Boris Johnson said the biggest-ever public fund to fight climate change was raised through pledges, adding: “Ninety percent of the world has now signed up to net zero, including India.”

“We will keep working with world leaders to get to net zero sooner.”

He added: “We must take care to guard against false hope ... still a very long way to go. I am cautiously optimistic ... After two days of talks we’ve pulled back a goal or two from being 1-5 down.”

Johnson said “billions of dollars have been committed to supporting developing and vulnerable countries” to support them in reaching the emission targets.

“We’ve been asking for action on coal, cars, cash and trees and after just a couple of days we can certainly begin to tick three of those boxes – we are beginning to write the tick.

“That’s all happened because we have been able to come together in Glasgow.”

Johnson also said that the clock in the “doomsday scenario is still ticking” but “we have a bomb disposal team on site and they are starting to snip some of the wires, some of the right wires I hope.”

“The world leaders may be leaving, but the eyes of the world are on our negotiators and we have your numbers,” says Johnson, who is due to fly back to London this evening.

Johnson’s speech marked the end of the leaders’ summit within the COP26, which is set to end on Nov. 12.

More than 100 world leaders signed a declaration Monday committing to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

Under the agreement, 12 countries also pledged to spend $12 billion in public funds between 2021 and 2025 to protect and restore forests, and an additional $7.2 billion will be provided by private investors.

The announcement of the Leader's Declaration on Forests and Land Use came on day one of the summit.

Day two saw the announcement by the US and EU of a global partnership to cut emissions of greenhouse methane by 2030.

The announcement from EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden came on the final day of the leaders’ summit.

The partnership dubbed The Global Methane Pledge will work towards reducing methane emissions by 30% by the end of the decade.

The conference will continue until Nov. 12 with numerous panels, meetings and side events, all looking for remedies to reduce the levels of global warming by keeping it to 1.5 C.