Joe Biden Appears To Fall Asleep At COP26 Climate Summit

Joe Biden appeared to almost fall asleep during the Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Watch here:

During opening speeches earlier today (Monday 1 November), the President of the United States could be seen indulging in some very long blinks.

Footage showed the 78-year-old - who was dubbed 'sleepy Joe' by Donald Trump - sat with his arms folded and his eyes closed for at least 20 seconds.

An aide then scurried over with an important message, presumably something along the lines of: "Mr President, you appear to be asleep."

Obviously, it's not a great look, given the seriousness of the subject matter, but surely we can have some sympathy.

So much travel and so many speeches is bound to have a soporific effect, especially on a man approaching 80.

Hopefully that aide returns to him with an espresso pronto.

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The POTUS was able to stir up the strength to deliver his own speech, in which he pledged that his administration would commit to meeting a goal of reducing US admissions by 50 percent by 2030.

He said: "Glasgow must be the kick-off of a decade of ambition and innovation to preserve our shared future.

"Climate change is already ravaging the world. It's not hypothetical. It's not a hypothetical threat. It is destroying people's lives and livelihoods, and doing it every single day."

And while the outlook is bleak, Biden said the world has an 'incredible opportunity' to turn things around.

He said: "We know that none of us can escape the worse that's yet to come if we fail to seize this moment.

"But, ladies and gentlemen, within the growing catastrophe I believe there's an incredible opportunity, not just for the United States but for all of us.

"We're standing at inflection point in world history.

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"We have the ability to invest in ourselves and build an equitable clean energy future, and in the process create millions of good-paying jobs and opportunities around the world."

Concluding his speech at the summit, he continued said: "Let this be the moment when we answer history's call, here in Glasgow.

"Let this be the start of a decade of transformative action that preserves our planet and raises the quality of life for people everywhere.

"We can do this, we just have to make a choice to do it. So, let's get to work.

"Those of us who are responsible for much of the deforestation and all the problems we have so far have an overwhelming obligation [to] nations who, in fact, are not there and have not done it.

"We have to help much more than we have thus far."

Topics: joe biden, US News, Politics

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey