Obama implores world leaders to ‘step up now’ to avert climate disaster

• Ex-president criticizes China and Russia for emissions failures
• Images of dystopia start creeping into my dreams,' Cop26 hears

Barack Obama has called on world leaders to step up and step up now" to avert climate breakdown, singling out China and Russia for being foremost among countries that are failing to cut planet-heating emissions quickly enough.

Obama said that while progress has been made at the Glasgow climate talks, including significant pledges made by countries to reduce methane emissions and to end deforestation, we are nowhere near where we need to be at" in cutting emissions and that most nations have failed to be as ambitious as they need to be".