Cop26: Boris Johnson urged to resist calls to postpone climate talks | Environment

Nicholas Stern, one of the world's foremost experts on the climate crisis, urged Boris Johnson to resist calls to postpone vital UN climate talks this year despite the epidemic of coronavirus.

Ministers and officials privately discussed the possibility of postponing the planned Cop26 talks in Glasgow in November, but no decision has yet been made. Travel bans and closures imposed in many countries due to the virus have resulted in the cancellation of meetings and officials working remotely.

Lord Stern believed that any decision to postpone the talks would give hope for real progress. For the moment, we just need to continue the preparation, he said. This is such an urgent challenge and there is so much to do and so much valuable work that is being done that we cannot afford to lose this momentum.

At COP26, the 26th conference of the parties is expected to propose more stringent plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as the current plans of the Paris Agreement are insufficient. The UK hoped to bring many countries to the table with promises to reach net zero carbon by 2050, a goal the UK has already enshrined in law.

Stern said work has become more difficult because of the virus, but not impossible. Postponing the summit now would effectively put the brakes on when acceleration is needed, he said, and if necessary, a postponement could be discussed after summer, depending on the situation.

Stern is supported by other former high-ranking diplomats. Yvo de Boer, former head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), who led talks in Copenhagen in 2009 that ended in acrimony, said he was essential to continue working towards a COP in November26. If it has to be canceled, it should only be done at the last possible minute in October, he said.

A former senior official who helped set up the Paris agreement said: The cancellation now might seem like the UK was looking too early to get out of an important meeting.

Some NGOs and experts from developing countries also consider the delay to be counterproductive. Mohamed Adow, the director of Power Shift Africa and an attentive observer of the talks for many years, said: We prefer not to see it canceled until we learn more about the spread of the virus. Canceling it immediately could mean that action on climate change is being overlooked this year and that people on the front lines in poor countries cannot afford it.

Janine Felson, vice-president of the Alliance of Small Island States, said: We cannot afford to lose momentum. We all need to focus our energies to make sure we can support each other during this difficult time and keep pushing for ambition.

But some experts contacted by the Guardian believe that postponing talks would give diplomacy more time. John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace UK, wrote to Alok Sharma, business secretary and president of Cop26, asking him to delay.

He said: The postponement is very different from the cancellation. It would be the same president, the same place, the same two co-hosting countries, so all you do is have a slight delay. The UK started slowly (launching its Cop26 hosting strategy), so the postponement would give more time to the necessary work.

A key issue is that the US presidential election is expected to take place a week before the start of COP26. Donald Trump is firmly opposed to the Paris Agreement and its withdrawal in force will take effect the day after the elections. A new president, if there is one, may be more receptive to climate action but would not take office until January, so a postponement could allow the United States to participate.

Paul Bledsoe, a strategic advisor to the Progressive Policy Institute in the United States, said: A distinct advantage of the delay until spring 2021 is the growing prospect that American voters will transform the climate nihilism Trumps of office in favor of Joe Bidens, a robust climate ambition, infusing global negotiations of far greater significance and momentum.

Some pre-COP meetings are already in doubt. The UNFCCC has canceled all meetings for next month, but a decision will need to be made soon on an interim meeting scheduled for Bonn in June. Italy is to co-organize Cop26 with the UK, but its plans have been shattered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The British government has stated that there are no plans for change. A spokesperson said: We continue to work to host the event in Glasgow in November, in eight months. As this situation evolves, we keep the situation under close examination.

The UNFCCC also said that there was no immediate decision to postpone the talks. Any decision should be made by the Office Cop, made up of elected representatives from various countries, and would also involve the Chilean government, which will technically chair the process until the United Kingdom officially assumes the presidency in November.