1st November, 2021
U.S. President Joe Biden was caught by the cameras dozing off briefly during the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow on Monday, just before his own speech.
According to a report by metro.co.uk, Biden was captured on video sitting at the United Nations conference, with his arms crossed.
He closed his eyes for several seconds at a time during the opening speeches.
At one point, he appeared to doze off for at least 15 seconds until a man approached him and whispered something into his ear.
The US president later addressed world leaders.
‘None of us can escape the worst of what’s to come if we fail to seize this moment,’ Biden said.
‘We’re standing in an inflection point in world history,’ he told the conference critical to averting the most disastrous effects of climate change.
The conference goal appeared daunting by the failure of major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments.
The conference opened a day after the G20 economies failed to commit to a 2050 target to halt net carbon emissions – a deadline widely cited as necessary to prevent the most extreme global warming.
Instead, their talks in Rome only recognised “the key relevance” of halting net emissions “by or around mid-century”, set no timetable for phasing out coal at home and watered down promises to cut emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas many times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
Their commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies “over the medium term” echoed wording used by the G20 at a summit in Pittsburgh as long ago as 2009.
“Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change. It’s one minute to midnight on that Doomsday clock and we need to act now,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the opening ceremony.
“If we don’t get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow.”
As Johnson was speaking, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg retweeted an appeal for her millions of supporters to sign an open letter accusing leaders of betrayal.
“This is not a drill. It’s code red for the Earth,” it read. “Millions will suffer as our planet is devastated — a terrifying future that will be created, or avoided, by the decisions you make. You have the power to decide.”
Many of those leaders were due to take to the stage in Glasgow at the start of two weeks of negotiations that conference host Britain is billing as make-or-break.