PM Johnson calls on humanity to ‘defuse that bomb’ of climate change in Bond-inspired speech at COP26

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that climate change is like a “doomsday device” from a James Bond film and there is no time left on the countdown, as he called on the global community to step up their commitments.

Speaking on Monday during the plenary session of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Johnson claimed that nations around the world needed to get serious on climate change “today” otherwise it would be too late for the children of the future.  

Referencing one of Scotland’s most famous fictional sons, James Bond, the PM asserted that there was no time left to wait. “We are in roughly the same position as James Bond today, except that the tragedy is this is not a movie and the doomsday device is real,” he stated. 

Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change. It’s one minute to midnight on that doomsday clock and we need to act now.

Johnson said if conferences actually solved things, then we would not need the 26th edition of the UN’s climate change conference, noting that instead, COP26 was a “lifeboat for humanity.” 

“We may not feel much like James Bond. Not all of us necessarily look much like James Bond. But we have the opportunity and the duty to make this summit the moment when humanity finally began to defuse that bomb,” he added, ending his 007 references. 

Johnson said it was the children of tomorrow that leaders needed to be thinking about, noting that future generations would judge them with “bitterness and resentment” if they failed to deliver. 

The prime minister’s remarks were followed by speeches by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, long-time environmental campaigner Prince Charles, and famed wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough. 

As world leaders spoke, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg retweeted an open letter accusing Johnson and his international colleagues of “betrayal.” 

“Millions will suffer as our planet is devastated – a terrifying future that will be created, or avoided, by the decisions you make. You have the power to decide,” it read. 

World leaders and delegates from some 200 nations are gathering in Glasgow on Monday to pledge their commitments to cut carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, signed in December 2015. 

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