Pope Francis urges world leaders at COP26 to 'heed the cry of the Earth' as the climate summit kicks off.

Extract from ABC News

Posted 2 hours ago

COP26 President Alok Sharma speaks at the start of the climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.(Reuters: Yves Herman)

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The climate light is "flashing red" COP26 President Alok Sharma said in Glasgow as the United Nations climate summit begins.

Key points:

• World leaders gather to discuss efforts to curb climate change a day after the G20 summit in Rome

• Protests are expected as activists grow frustrated by the slow pace of change

• Scientists say the chances of meeting the goals outlined in the 2015 Paris accord are slipping away

The COP26 summit formally opened in Glasgow on Sunday, kicking off two weeks of intense diplomatic negotiations by almost 200 countries about how to tackle the common challenge of global warming.

Mr Sharma said in his opening speech he believed "this international system can deliver" the negotiations needed to reach its goal.

Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa, said the world was at a "pivotal point in history."

"Humanity faces stark but clear choices," she said.

Climate protesters in Glasgow protest bottom fishing ahead of the COP26 summit.(AP: Alastair Grant)

"We either choose to recognise that business as usual is not worth the devastating price we're paying and make the necessary transition to a more sustainable future, or we accept that we are investing in our own extinction," Ms Espinosa said.

Following the opening gavel, leaders from around the world will gather in Scotland's biggest city on Monday to lay out their countries' efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and deal with the effects of climate change.

COP26 is our best chance to stop global warming

On our current trajectory, we will heat the world by 1.5C in less than a decade, the United Nation's climate change panel has found. And if we don't act now, cooling the world will be increasingly hard.

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The slow pace of action has angered many environmental campaigners, who are expected to stage loud and creative protests during the summit.

The meeting will see negotiators from almost 200 countries attempt to tackle issues left hanging since the 2015 Paris climate accord was forged, and find ways to ratchet up their efforts to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius this century compared with pre-industrial times.

Scientists say the chances of meeting that goal, agreed in the French capital six years ago, are slowly slipping away. 

The world has already warmed by more than 1.1 Celsius and current projections based on planned emissions cuts over the next decade are for it to hit 2.7 C by the year 2100.

Pope urges prayer before the summit

Pope Francis on Sunday urged people to pray so that "the cry of the Earth" was heard at the Glasgow summit.

In comments to the public in St Peter's Square on Sunday, he told the crowd:

"Let us pray so that the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor" is heard by summit participants.

"May this encounter yield effective answers offering concrete hope to future generations," the Pope said.

He has made care for the planet's fragile environment a key plank of his papacy.

China, Russia and Brazil sit this one out

While the opening ceremony in Glasgow formally kicked off the talks, the more anticipated launch comes Monday, when leaders from around the world will gather to lay out their countries' efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and deal with the mounting damage from climate change.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg at a climate protest in London ahead of the COP26 summit.(AP: Frank Augstein)

The leaders of three of the world's biggest climate polluters — China, Russia and Brazil — are not expected to attend the summit, though seniors officials from those countries planned to participate.

For US President Joe Biden, whose country is the world's worst current climate polluter after China, the summit comes at a time when division within his own Democratic party is forcing him to scale back ambitious climate efforts.

India, the world's third biggest emitter, has yet to follow China, the US and the European Union in setting a target for reaching net zero emissions.

Negotiators are hoping India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce such a goal in Glasgow.

What is COP26 and why should we care?

AP/Reuters