The prestigious audience gathered on Tuesday, February 4, at the London Science Museum was not enough to silence the controversy. In front of the writer and naturalist David Attenborough, the economist Nicholas Stern and dozens of scientists, business leaders and members of civil society, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched a "Year of climate action" until the 26e United Nations Climate Conference (COP26), to be held in November in Glasgow (Scotland).
An event tarnished by the scathing charge carried out against Boris Johnson by the ex-president of the COP, Claire O’Neill, brutally dismissed on Friday.
"Unless urgent action is taken, the planet will warm by 3 ° C. As a country, as a society, as a planet and as a species, we must act now ", warned Boris Johnson, alongside Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose country is organizing the pre-COP. Johnson called on all governments to follow the example of his country, the first major power to have announced a carbon neutrality target in 2050. He also advanced the ban on sales of thermal vehicles (petrol, diesel) but also hybrids in 2035, instead of 2040, and recalled that his country would exit coal in 2024.
"The speech contained many words or reaffirmations of the UK's decarbonization successes, but very few actions. And nothing about how he will use his diplomacy to help or persuade other countries to embark on the path of carbon neutrality, " regretted Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate think tank.
"Obscurantism"
Above all, these announcements did not manage to forget a chaotic departure, when a few hours earlier, the former British Minister of Energy, responsible for presiding over COP26, Claire O'Neill, was shooting at red bullets. Johnson. "We have seen a huge void in engagement and leadership"she told the BBC about the Prime Minister’s attitude towards the climate conference. "He also admitted to me that he didn't really understand" the issue of climate change.
In a letter to vitriol addressed to the head of government, that The world consulted, Claire O’Neill further judges that the preparations for the summit she has been in charge of since July 2019 are "Miles from the account" and accused Mr. Johnson of not giving the COP the attention and resources it needs. She also denounces "Internal struggles and obscurantism" between departments, budgets that swell, a dead end in discussions between the team of Mr. Johnson and that of Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon or the lack of roadmap to communicate to the diplomatic network.
