London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Aug 11, 2025

Boris Johnson’s plea for climate commitments at COP26 provokes ire of Twittersphere

Boris Johnson’s plea for climate commitments at COP26 provokes ire of Twittersphere

The British prime minister’s climate change message ahead of the COP26 summit in Glasgow does not appear to be resonating with everyone, as some Britons accuse the PM of hypocrisy.

Throughout the weekend, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reiterated the need for the global community to do more on climate change. His plea reached a crescendo on Sunday evening as he claimed G20 commitments to climate change were “not enough” and that promises were “starting to sound hollow.”

In remarks unusually devoid of his trademark puns, jokes, or bonhomie, Johnson told the global press that “there are no compelling excuses for our procrastination,” claiming that if the world does not act now, the Paris agreement will be seen as the moment humanity “flinched and turned away” from the problem of climate change.

“Not only have we acknowledged the problem, we have already seen first-hand the devastation that climate change causes – heatwaves and droughts to wildfires and hurricanes,” the prime minister stated.

Johnson doubled down on his critical remarks in a tweet on Monday morning: “History will judge us on what we achieve over the next two weeks. We cannot let future generations down.”

But while the climate crisis might be the top of the agenda for politicians and many others around the world, it appears that many on the Twittersphere aren’t buying Johnson’s hard-sell on global warming.

Some suggested Johnson and his fellow international leaders were hypocritical as they fly across the world in private planes emitting tonnes of CO2. “Climate is such an emergency you all have to jet in to discuss it,” one Twitter user wrote.

One person highlighted that the COP26 summit could have gone ahead with zero emissions if they had used video-conferencing software.

Others noted that Johnson actually flew from London to Cornwall for the G7 summit in the summer, questioning whether the prime minister is actually committed to climate change or whether it’s just more bluster.

Another shared a GIF suggesting that the level of hypocrisy was off the scale.


Despite the PM’s remarks and tweet being well liked and shared, there were few people willing to argue for him within the torrent of criticism that flooded the comments section.

At the COP26 summit, which officially started on Sunday, 200 nations are being asked to put forward their plans to cut carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, signed in December 2015.

The pledges are part of a global agenda to keep global warming less than 2C above pre-industrial levels in order to avoid a climate catastrophe; reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 is deemed to be a major part of this.

Speaking in the Colosseum on Saturday, Johnson highlighted that civilization can over-extend itself, and the decline of the Roman Empire was the prime empire of how humanity can go backwards as well as forwards. “We can fix it, but the lesson of history is that things can go badly wrong and stay wrong for a long time,” the PM continued.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Duluth International Airport Running on Tech Older Than Your Grandmother's Vinyl Player
RFK Jr. Announces HHS Investigation into Big Pharma Incentives to Doctors
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Security flaws in a carmaker’s web portal let one hacker remotely unlock cars from anywhere
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
×