World leaders urged to 'save humanity' at climate summit

Queen Elizabeth II on Monday called on world leaders to act together to tackle climate change at the end of the first day of the COP26 summit in Glasgow.

In a video message sent to the conference, she added her voice to a succession of world leaders stressing the urgency of the crisis.

But as the summit got under way, several observers said that so far, there had been more talk than action.

"If the world pollution situation is not critical at the moment, it is as certain as anything can be that the situation will become increasingly intolerable within a very short time...," said the queen.

"If we fail to cope with this challenge, all the other problems will pale into insignificance."

The 95-year-old monarch, who last month briefly visited a private hospital in London, skipped the event on doctor's advice.

But more than 120 heads of state and government gathered in Glasgow for the two-day event at the start of the UN's COP26 conference, which organisers say is crucial for charting humanity's path away from catastrophic global warming. 

"It's one minute to midnight... and we need to act now," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at the start of an occasionally chaotic opening day.