Barack Obama urged Nations to Take Action at UN Climate Summit in Glasgow

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On Monday, former US President Barack Obama brought his political weight to bear on negotiations for at least 200 governments amid growing pressure for decisive action out of this year’s UN climate talks. He urged them to greater ambition in cutting climate-wrecking emissions and dealing with the mounting damage. The UN climate summit in Glasgow Scotland marks the first speech of the former American President since he helped to deliver the triumph of the 2015 Paris climate accord. The nations were committed to cutting fossil fuel and agricultural emissions fast enough to keep the Earth’s warming below catastrophic levels. Climate summits since then have been less conclusive, especially as the US under President Donald Trump dropped out of the Paris accord.

However, US President Joe Biden has since rejoined. Obama’s appearance on the sidelines of the talks is meant to remind governments of the exhilaration that surrounded the striking of the Paris accord and urge them to more immediate, concrete steps to put the 2015 deal into action. Obama delivered his words in a video message ahead of his arrival at the Glasgow talk. He said, “I am optimistic. The thing I want to continue to insist on is that we have no time to lose”. On Monday, Obama was taking part in a session on Pacific islands, some of them at risk of disappearing as the oceans rise.

Obama was speaking to a bloc of nations seeking higher commitments; and joining a round table of younger leaders of climate-minded foundations, businesses, research, and advocacy. The two-week climate talks are at their midpoint after President Joe Biden and scores of other global leaders launched the summit last week with pledges of action and calls for more. Scientists say the urgency is fully as great as the speech-making at Glasgow conveys, with the planet a few years away from the point where meeting the goals set in the Paris accord becomes impossible, due to mounting damage from coal, petroleum, agriculture, and other pollution sources.