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Boris Johnson said there are “no compelling excuses” delaying introducing measures to control climate change.
In a press conference after the G20 summit in Rome, the Prime Minister said: “There are no compelling excuses for our procrastination.
“Not only have we acknowledged the problem, we have already seen first hand the devastation that climate change causes – heatwaves and droughts to wild fires and hurricanes.
“And unlike many other global challenges, the solution to climate change is clear – it lies in consigning dirty fossil fuels like coal to history, in ditching gas guzzling modes of transport and recognising the role nature plays in preserving life on this planet and enhancing the power through renewable energy rather than orchestrating its destruction.
“If we don’t act now, the Paris Agreement will be looked at in the future, not as the moment that humanity opened its eyes to the problem but the moment we flinched and turned away.”
The Prime Minister warned if the Glasgow summit fails, “then the whole thing fails”.
He told a press conference at the G20: “The countries most responsible for historic and present day emissions are not yet doing their fair share of the work.
“If we are going to prevent Cop26 from being a failure, then that must change and I must be clear, that if Glasgow fails then the whole thing fails.
“The Paris Agreement will have crumpled at the first reckoning.”
He said that agreement and “the hope that came with it” is currently “just a piece of paper”.
“We need to fill that piece of paper, to populate it with real progress and I know that humanity has in it the power to rise to the challenge,” he added.
Speaking in Rome, Mr Johnson continued: “We’ve seen some progress in the last few days and weeks – Saudi Arabia, Australia and Russia have all made net zero commitments, meaning 80% of the global economy will wipe out its contribution to climate change by the middle of the century, up from 30%, thanks to the UK’s Cop26 leadership.
“Countries such as the United States have doubled their spending on climate aid.
“Every nation at this week’s summit will end the financial support for international unabated coal projects by the end of this year.
“But these commitments, welcome as they are, are drops in a rapidly warming ocean when we consider the challenge we’ve all admitted is ahead of us.
“Just 12 G20 members are committed to reach net zero by 2050 or earlier; barely half of us have submitted improved plans for how we will cut carbon emissions since the Paris summit in 2015.
“We’ve also failed to meet our commitments to provide 100 billion dollars a year to support developing countries to grow in a clean and sustainable way.”
Boris Johnson said leaders at the G20 summit had made “reasonable progress… all things considered”.
Speaking at a post summit conference, the Prime Minister expressed hopes for the Cop26 climate summit and said leaders would be pressured by citizens.
“The chances of progress in Glasgow are exactly the same as I’ve said,” he said.
“It’s not just governments that want it, governments like ours that are putting pressure on those leaders – it is their citizens. They want us to fix this.
“There will be people in Glasgow when the delegations arrive tonight and tomorrow from the G20 who will be anxious, who will be absolutely desperate for the Cop26 that they want. The pressure on the world is enormous.
“I hope they will agree that I stand before you today, as I said to you when we came to Rome…I think we have made reasonable progress at the G20, all things considered. But it is not enough.”