Late night hosts recap, queensplain the COP26 climate summit's modest accomplishments

published 3 November 2021

"It is Election Day in many places across the country, including here in New York," where voters will get to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio "with their favorite option: anyone else," Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's Late Show. "It's also Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, but if climate change continues at its current pace, soon it will just be called Day."

"World leaders are talking about maybe doing something about it at the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow," and yesterday, more than 100 of them "pledged to halt deforestation by 2030," Colbert said. "Of course to do that, they'll need a detailed plan — that they'll need to print out on thousands upon thousands of pieces of paper." The world leaders also "got a video pep talk from young climate activist Queen Elizabeth," he added, queensplaining her speech.

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"The queen of England addressed the summit, she had a video message asking leaders to act for our children and our children's children — all of which she's probably going to outlive. What is that woman, 1,000 years old now?" Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. Meanwhile, "more than 100 world leaders agreed to end deforestation before the year 2030 — basically they made a deal to save the Amazon from Amazon at this conference."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.