November 13, 2021
GLASGOW (Reuters) – Reactions to the climate deal agreed at the COP26 conference in Scotland on Saturday:
UN SECRETARY GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES
“The approved texts are a compromise. They reflect the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today. They take important steps, but unfortunately the collective political will was not enough to overcome some deep contradictions.”
GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JENNIFER MORGAN
“They changed a word but they can’t change the signal coming out of this COP, that the era of coal is ending. If you’re a coal company executive this COP saw a bad outcome.”
MANUEL PULGAR-VIDAL, WWF GLOBAL LEAD ON CLIMATE
“We must acknowledge that progress was made. There are now new opportunities for countries to deliver on what they know must be done to avoid a climate catastrophe. But unless they sharply pivot to implementation and show substantial results, they will continue to have their credibility challenged.”
KAVEH GUILANPOUR, VP OF INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIES, CENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS
“The Paris Agreement is working. It was never expected to solve the climate emergency in one go – but to do so over time. In 2014, before the Agreement was adopted, the world was heading toward close to 4 degrees Celsius of global heating. Coming out of COP26, new commitments made mean that we are heading toward closer to around 2 degrees. Glasgow was an important step in keeping open the possibility of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees.”
(Compiled by Reuters staff in Glasgow; Editing by Mark Potter)
Source: One America News Network
