‘Grow up’: UK’s Johnson says world must face climate change

By JILL LAWLESS

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told satellite leaders astatine the United Nations connected Wednesday nighttime that humanity has to “grow up” and tackle clime change, saying humans indispensable halt trashing the satellite similar a teen connected a bender.

Johnson is owed to big a large United Nations clime acme successful Glasgow, Scotland successful six weeks’ time. He is utilizing a travel to the U.N. General Assembly successful New York to property governments for tougher emissions-cutting targets and much wealth to assistance mediocre countries cleanable up their economies.

In a code to the General Assembly connected Wednesday, helium said it’s present oregon ne'er if the satellite is to conscionable its extremity of limiting the planetary somesthesia emergence to 1.5C supra pre-industrial levels.

“If we support connected the existent way past the temperatures volition spell up by 2.7 degrees oregon much by the extremity of the century. And ne'er caput what that volition bash to the crystal floes,” Johnson said. “We volition spot desertification, drought, harvest failure, andmass movements of humanity connected a standard not seen before. Not due to the fact that of immoderate unforeseen earthy lawsuit oregon disaster, but due to the fact that of us, due to the fact that of what we are doing now.”

In his speech, Johnson compared humanity to an impetuous 16-year-old — “just aged capable to get ourselves into superior trouble.”

“We person travel to that fateful property erstwhile we cognize astir however to thrust and we cognize however to unlock the drinks furniture and to prosecute successful each sorts of enactment that is not lone perchance embarrassing but besides terminal,” helium said.

“We judge that idiosyncratic other volition wide up the messiness we make, due to the fact that that is what idiosyncratic other has ever done,” helium added. “We trash our habitats again and again with the inductive reasoning that we person got distant with it truthful far, and truthful we volition get distant with it again.

“My friends, the adolescence of humanity is coming to an end,” Johnson, said, adding: “We indispensable travel unneurotic successful a corporate coming of age.”

Hopes for a palmy Glasgow acme person been boosted by announcements this week from the world’s 2 biggest economies and largest c polluters, the United States and China. Chinese President Xi Jinping said his state volition nary longer money coal-fired powerfulness plants abroad, portion U.S. President Joe Biden announced a program to treble fiscal assistance for greenish maturation to poorer nations to $11.4 cardinal by 2024.

Britain has pledged to trim its c emissions to nett zero by 2050, and Johnson has championed the enlargement of renewable energy, saying the U.K. could go the “Saudi Arabia of wind.” But helium is nether occurrence from environmentalists for failing to scrap caller North Sea lipid drilling and a projected caller ember excavation successful northwest England.