Climate summits are falling short of what the planet needs, EU climate chief says

BRUSSELS, June 1 (Reuters) – The outcomes of most of the United Nations’ recent ​COP climate summits ‌have fallen short of the more ambitious action scientists say is needed to address climate ‌change, ​said EU climate ⁠commissioner Wopke Hoekstra ⁠on Monday.

“If you look at what the problem actually needs and where the ​bar should then be, and what most of ⁠the COPs of ⁠the last five, ​six, seven, eight years have ​delivered, then you just have ‌to admit that that was underwhelming,” Hoekstra told an event hosted by Politico ⁠in Brussels.

He added that there was a need to continue work ⁠at ‌COP summits, where ⁠nearly 200 countries take ​decisions ‌by consensus, but also ​in ⁠smaller groups of countries who are willing to move faster to tackle global warming.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett;Editing by ​Sudip Kar-Gupta)