"1.5C global warming limit is at risk, warns Alok Sharma at Cop27", 14 November 2022

Alok Sharma, a former British cabinet minister who chaired the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, has warned Cop27 delegates that the possibility of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5C could be in jeopardy.

“Either we leave Egypt after keeping 1.5C alive or this will be the cop where we lose 1.5C,” Sharma said Monday at the opening of the high-level ministerial roundtable on the ambitions before 2030.

He said sticking to the global target of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels must be a “red line” for all countries at Cop27, and insisted there would be no “backlash” from it could give...

“At Cop26 we have collectively decided to make efforts to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5°C,” he said. “I’ve always said what we agreed in Glasgow and Paris must be the basis of our ambitions. We must uphold this commitment. We must not allow relapses.”

But he warned: “We’ve already reached 1.1C global warming and I know I don’t need to remind you all of the global implications of that. Even at 1.5°C we will still have devastating consequences for many millions… 1.5°C must be a red line. And that can’t be the cop we lose 1.5C on.”..

He said countries must clearly demonstrate how they would cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the 1.5 degree target. “We have a meeting of the G20 heads of state and government going on right now,” he said, looking ahead to the Bali summit. “They must reaffirm their commitment to Paris and Glasgow.”

He urged countries that have not yet submitted revised national emissions plans, known as nationally determined contributions, to do so as a matter of urgency. He also called for a faster phase-out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies, as well as solving technical issues in Cop’s work program.