Johnson cannot afford to drop the ball on the climate crisis now Cop26 is over

Editorial: The UK will formally hold the Cop presidency until Egypt takes over next year. There is no excuse for not showing the required leadership

(Brian Adcock)

There is no time for world leaders to rest on their laurels because the Cop26 summit in Glasgow managed – just – to keep alive the goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Indeed, there is not a second to waste. One of the most important breakthroughs was an agreement that countries will review their progress towards cutting greenhouse gas emissions next year rather than in 2025. This acknowledges the need to go further and faster in the current “decisive decade”, with scientists calling for emissions to be reduced by about 50 per cent by 2030; worryingly, they are on track to rise by then.

Even allowing for the pledges made in Glasgow, experts think global temperatures might increase to between 1.8C and 2.4C. That is a painful reminder that Cop26 was, at best, only a start. The vital 1.5C target will remain “within reach” only if the world’s richest countries do more.