World leaders welcomed China’s new climate target in addresses to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, and said the year ahead would “determine the fate” of the Paris climate agreement.
Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, called on other heads of state to commit to new climate targets this year, following the net-zero emissions goal it adopted last year. The UK aspired to be the “Saudi Arabia of wind power,” he said. It is already the world’s biggest centre for offshore wind power.
“Humanity was caught napping by coronavirus,” Mr Johnson said. “But for this thing, for climate change, nobody can say that we have not been warned. And nobody can say that we are not now capable of making the preparations.”