Global leaders have gathered at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, to discuss urgent action to combat a rapidly warming world.
Here are some memorable quotes from heads of state and government and others who are giving speeches Monday, the second day of the two-week conference in Glasgow Scotland:
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“The people who will judge us are children not yet born and their children, and we are now coming center stage before a vast and uncountable audience of posterity, and we must not fluff our lines or miss our cue, because if we fail they will not forgive us.” — United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson
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“Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice: Either we stop it — or it stops us. It’s time to say: enough. ... Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves." — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
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“The decisions you make here will help determine whether children will have food and water.” — Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti
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Limiting global warming to “1.5 Celsius is what we need to stay alive — two degrees is a death sentence for the people of Antigua and Barbuda, for the people of the Maldives, for the people of Dominica and Fiji, for the people of Kenya and Mozambique — and yes, for the people of Samoa and Barbados. We do not want that dreaded death sentence, and we’ve come here today to say: ‘Try harder, try harder.'" — Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley
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“We are, after all, the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth. If working apart, we are a force powerful enough to destabilize our planet. Surely working together, we are powerful enough to save it.” — veteran British broadcaster and documentary maker David Attenborough
