Former U.S. President Barack Obama waves on Monday as he arrives at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Obama will speak at the conference Monday morning. Photo by Robert Perry/EPA-EFE
Nov. 8 (UPI) — Former U.S. President Barack Obama will speak Monday at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Scotland, where he’s expected to call for global unity in efforts to make serious progress in fighting global warming.
Obama will speak at the conference, known as COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. His speech is scheduled for about 9 a.m. EST.
Obama is expected to try and persuade skeptics that the United States is ready to make major changes to resolve the climate crisis.
“I recognize that we’re living in a moment when international cooperation has atrophied — in part because of the pandemic, in part because of the rise of nationalism and tribal impulses around the world, in part because of a lack of leadership on America’s part for four years on a host of multilateral issues,” Obama will say, according to a copy of his address reported by CNN.
In a Twitter post late last week, Obama said the world should be looking beyond the Paris Agreement to meet environmental challenges, including engaging young people.
“Paris provided an important framework in the fight against climate change, but it wasn’t enough,” he tweeted. “That’s why I’ll be speaking in Glasgow on Monday about the road ahead and what young people, in particular, can do to help.”
Spokeswoman Hannah Hankins told The Scotsman that the 44th president of the United States will ask for stronger commitments from global leaders and private companies in the climate fight.
“[He will] lay out the important progress made in the five years since the Paris agreement took effect, highlight the leadership of young people around the globe, and urge more robust action going forward by all of us — governments, the private sector, philanthropy and civil society,” Hankins said.