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“Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is a stain on global efforts to achieve a clean, sustainable future.”

Addressing the opening session of COP26, executive director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinoza said that in the talks, the world faced stark but simple choices.

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

“We either choose to recognise that business as usual isn’t worth the devastating price we’re paying and make the necessary transition to a more sustainable future – or we accept that we’re investing in our own extinction.”

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She said the world needed more ambition from G20 nations, which were responsible for about 80 per cent of global emissions.

Though there was disappointment that the G20 talks did not provide the momentum for COP26 that many hoped for, others welcomed some of its outcomes.

“It is impressive that 90 per cent of G20 countries have now indicated some intention to reach net zero, which would have been unfathomable just a few years ago,” said Helen Mountford of the World Resources Institute.

She added it was significant that, for the first time, leaders had acknowledged that methane emissions needed to be curbed.

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Greenpeace’s Jennifer Morgan said she was worried about the potential for success of the COP26 talks because the stakes are so high.

“But my experience of these meetings is that things can happen over two weeks that you do not expect,” she said.

“Countries are pushed beyond their comfort zones, beyond the brief that they came in with because of the pressure from other countries, particularly vulnerable countries like the island nations of the Pacific.

“You just can’t look them in the eyes at a negotiating table and damn them to not exist any more. That is what is on the table here in Glasgow.”

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