British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to pledge one billion pounds ($1.3 billion) in climate finance at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.
"We have to move from talk and debate and discussion to concerted, real-world action on coal, cars, cash and trees," Johnson will tell political leaders in his address at the World Leaders Summit Opening Ceremony.
Johnson is expected to make a commitment to increase climate finance support for developing countries by 1 billion pounds by 2025 if the British economy grows as forecast.
"If we don't get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow," the prime minister will say, urging other countries "to get real about climate change" and to make it clear "when that's going to happen."
The British government, which committed 11.6 billion pounds ($15.9 billion) over the next five years in climate finance, has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. The new pledge would increase the financial commitment to 12.6 billion pounds by 2025.
The Prime Minister will urge world leaders to take concrete steps on phasing out coal, accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, and halting deforestation as well as supporting developing nations on the frontline of the climate crisis with climate finance, a British High Commission statement said.
"These actions will make the biggest difference in reducing emissions this decade on the world's path to net zero and keeping alive the global aim of limiting rising temperatures to 1.5C under the Paris Agreement," it added.
According to the British High Commission, the Prime Minister, later today, will bring round one table some of the world's biggest economies with the countries most vulnerable to climate change to hear what is at stake for countries if action is not taken now and set the tone for two weeks of negotiations to come.
The COP26 climate summit comes six years after the Paris Agreement was signed by over 190 countries to limit rising global temperatures to well below 2C with a view of reaching 1.5C. According to the UN, global temperatures are currently set to rise to 2.7C.
Scientists are clear that emissions must halve by 2030 to keep the aims made in Paris within reach, the statement read.
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