COP26 president Alok Sharma used his opening address to warn that the next two weeks of crucial climate talks in Glasgow would be the last and best chance to keep global temperature limits to 1.5°C. 

Mr Sharma told the first formal session of the conference in Glasgow that he believed the conference could launch a decade of ever-increasing ambition and action, warning countries gathered for the talks that they would succeed or fail as one.

Mr Sharma told delegates: “The rapidly changing climate is sounding an alarm to the world to step up on adaptation, to address loss and damage, and to act now to keep 1.5 alive.

“We know that this Cop, Cop26, is our last, best hope to keep 1.5°C in reach.”

He said that the window to keeping temperatures to 1.5°C — beyond which scientists say the most dangerous effects of climate change, rising seas and extreme weather will be felt — was closing.

Pointing to devastating impacts around the world, he said: “We know our shared planet is changing for the worse and we can only address that together through this international system.”

He also said that some countries could find themselves under water, regardless of whether the 1.5°C target is reached.

UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa told delegates that the world stood at a “pivotal point in history.”

She said: “We either choose to achieve rapid and large-scale reductions of limiting emissions to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C or we accept that humanity faces a bleak future on this planet.”

Ms Espinosa said that people can either choose to boost adaptation efforts to deal with weather disasters and build future resilience, or “accept that more people will die, more families will suffer and more economic harm will follow.”