COP26: 1.5C climate warming limit is ‘crucial’ and ‘non-negotiable’

COP26: 1.5C climate warming limit is ‘crucial’ and ‘non-negotiable’ warns the UK’s Chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance. Speaking in Glasgow at the COP26 said the promises made by the countries attending the climate summit are “steps in the right direction” but reaching the target by the end of the century with still be “really tough”.

“It’s crucial that the 1.5C is kept alive,” he said in a news conference, Tuesday, November 9. “I don’t think this is a negotiable thing. It has to happen”.

Sir Patrick also acknowledged that while individual behaviour will slow down rising temperatures, he also said that governments need to play their part too. “They need to implement green policies, infrastructure and technologies to eco changes easier for people to reduce the climate warming”.

“Behaviour change is part of this, and some of that is down to what we do as individuals and some of it is what needs to make things easier for us”, he said. “We can’t assume it’s going to be dramatic personal behaviour change that’s going to be the solution to this unless we have some way of making that easier so the green choice is actually the easy choice”.

Before Sir Patrick made these warnings at COP, he told the BBC that “climate warming poses a much bigger problem than coronavirus – affecting humanity for 50 to 100 years as opposed to just 2 or 4.

On Monday, Sir Patrick, along with 39 fellow leading scientists signed a statement warning that steep reductions in emissions are required by 2030 and zero by 2050 to achieve the 1.5C goal.

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