President Joe Biden struggled to stay awake Monday during the opening speeches at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
The president, wearing a mask, sat listening to the addresses with his arms folded as his eyes began to droop. As his eyes closed for several seconds and his breathing changed, a White House aide approached to speak to him.
Biden spoke briefly to the aide and began applauding as the speaker concluded, and then rubbed his eyes and folded his hands as the conference continued.
Video of Biden was shared on social media by Washington Post reporter Zach Purser Brown.
Heir to the British throne Prince Charles earlier called for a “vast military-style campaign” to combat climate change as he opened the conference, as Breitbart London reported. The senior British royal called on global governments to take a “war-like footing” to solve the supposed crisis.
During the climate summit, Biden apologized for former President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Climate agreement, promising to get the United States back on track.
“I guess I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize for the fact the United States, in the last administration, pulled out of the Paris Accords and put us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit.”
Biden delivered his own address to the summit later in the day, emphasizing the importance of action on climate issues.
“We only have a brief window left before us to raise our ambitions and to raise to meet the task that’s rapidly narrowing,” he said. “This is the decisive decade in which we have an opportunity to prove ourselves.”