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The world has not done nearly enough to tackle the climate crisis, and curbing rising temperatures will be hard – but humanity has done hard things before, Barack Obama has said.
In an often personal speech to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, the former US president said there were times he felt doubtful humanity could get its act together before it was too late and “images of dystopia” crept into his mind.
But he warned that “cynicism is the recourse of cowards” and the world had to muster the will, passion and activism of citizens to push governments, companies and society to meet the challenge.
He took a swipe at China and Russia’s leaders for failing to attend the conference and said their national plans for climate action “reflect a dangerous lack of urgency and willingness to maintain the status quo”.
He said that while advanced economies such as the US and Europe must lead on climate change, major emitters like China, India and Russia, South Africa, Indonesia and South Africa do too.
“We can’t afford to have anyone on the sidelines,” he warned.
And in directing a large portion of his speech at young people, he said they were right to be angry and frustrated – and urged them to channel it, keep pushing and to gird themselves for a marathon not a sprint in solving the issue.
He told them to “vote like your life depends on it, because it does”, to put pressure on companies to take action and to educate their parents, relatives and teachers.
He added: “I recognise that many young people may be cynical about politics, but the cold, hard fact is we will not have more ambitious climate plans coming out of governments unless governments feel some pressure from voters.”
Obama also stated that protests are necessary, but it was also important to listen to ordinary people and persuade them about climate action, rather than yelling at or saying they were ignorant.
We’ve done some important work since the Paris Agreement was signed six year ago, but we’re still nowhere near where we need to be on climate. Live video #COP26 in Glasgow as I talk about the steps we can take to combat climate change. https://t.co/fpoGbnNehm
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 8, 2021
“It’s not enough to inconvenience them by blocking traffic in a protest – we actually have to listen to their objections and understand the reluctance of some ordinary people to see their countries move too fast on climate change,” he warned.
Quoting Shakespeare’s line from Othello asking “what wound did ever heal but by degrees”, Mr Obama said: “Our planet has been wounded by our actions.
“Those wounds won’t be healed today or tomorrow or the next, but they can be healed by degrees.
“If we start with the spirit that each of us can fight through the occasional frustration and dread, if we pledge to do our part and follow through on those commitments, I believe we can secure a better future. We have to.”
He also told delegates in a socially-distanced but full conference hall that America was back and the US is now “moving more boldly” after fours years of “active hostility” from the administration of Donald Trump.
He stated that countries had made significant progress since the Paris climate deal was signed in Paris in 2015, and that more had been achieved in the past week in Glasgow.
But he warned: “Collectively and individually we are still falling short. We have not done nearly enough to address this crisis.”
He told delegates that keeping the rise in global temperature to 1.5C, necessary to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, “will not be easy, it’s going to be hard”.
He stated that existing political institutions move slowly, international cooperation is difficult and made more difficult by misinformation on the internet, and that getting people to work together globally took time, which was not available to the world.
But he said: “The thing we have going for us is that humanity has done hard things before. I believe we can do hard things again.”
He said victories would be incomplete, and there would be setbacks, and imperfect compromises, but they would “move the ball down the field”.
Mr Obama is carrying out a series of events while in Glasgow, and earlier told a Cop26 meeting on island resilience that island nations are the “canaries in the coalmine” of climate change and are sending a message on the need for urgent action.
Obama, who arrived in Glasgow Sunday night, stated that larger countries should shoulder more of the responsibility of addressing the climate crisis. Not enough has been done.
He made these remarks as ministers arrived at the political stage of negotiations. This was after leaders and countries had signed up to a variety of initiatives last week, including tackling deforestation and curbing coal power.
Alok Sharma, Cop26 President, said earlier that countries must honor the promises made in the last week.
He said finding consensus on negotiations to make progress on climate action among almost 200 countries – needed for agreement under the UN system – was not going to be straightforward but progress last week demonstrated a “constructive spirit” among negotiators.
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