COP26 President Alok Sharma: Young people have 'right to be angry' over collective climate change failure

Speaking in a press conference after assuming the role of COP26 President, Alok Sharma said he was aware of the responsibility of his role and the challenge he and the conference faced.

He acknowledged that young people were angry about climate change and said: “They have every right to be angry because world leaders collectively over time have failed to deliver.

“Yes, we’ve made progress, yes, we’re bending the curve towards 2C (of warming) but we need to go faster. And that’s what young people are calling for.”

He said world leaders had to help deliver a successful COP26, saying they were the ones who made the commitments to tackle climate change in Paris in 2015.

“They are the ones who are now being required to make a commitment and transform their own domestic economies.”

He said he wanted ministers to keep the voices of young people in the forefront of their minds in decisions made in the negotiations.

And he said he was “cautiously hopeful” about agreements coming out of Rome by G20 leaders on tackling the crisis.