World leaders meet for ‘last best chance’ COP26 climate talks in Glasgow

Queen Elizabeth welcomed world leaders to the COP26 summit with a video message at a reception on Monday. 

Glasgow, the Queen said, was “once a heartland of the industrial revolution, but now a place to address climate change.” 

Recalling her late husband the Duke of Edinburgh’s commitment to the “impact of the environment on human progress,” which was a “subject close to the heart of my dear late husband.” Philip, the Queen said, told an academic gathering in 1969, “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 … If we fail to cope with this challenge, all the other problems will pale into insignificance.”

The Queen paid tribute to the work of Philip which she said “Iives on through the work of our eldest son Charles and his eldest son William. I could not be more proud of them.”

“Indeed, I have drawn great comfort and inspiration from the relentless enthusiasm of people of all ages – especially the young – in calling for everyone to play their part.
In the coming days, the world has the chance to join in the shared objective of creating a safer, stabler future for our people and for the planet on which we depend.
None of us underestimates the challenges ahead: but history has shown that when nations come together in common cause, there is always room for hope. Working side by side, we have the ability to solve the most insurmountable problems and to triumph over the greatest of adversities.
For more than seventy years, I have been lucky to meet and to know many of the world’s great leaders. And I have perhaps come to understand a little about what made them special.
It has sometimes been observed that what leaders do for their people today is government and politics. But what they do for the people of tomorrow — that is statesmanship.
I, for one, hope that this conference will be one of those rare occasions where everyone will have the chance to rise above the politics of the moment, and achieve true statesmanship.
It is the hope of many that the legacy of this summit – written in history books yet to be printed – will describe you as the leaders who did not pass up the opportunity; and that you answered the call of those future generations. That you left this conference as a community of nations with a determination, a desire, and a plan, to address the impact of climate change; and to recognise that the time for words has now moved to the time for action.
Of course, the benefits of such actions will not be there to enjoy for all of us here today: we none of us will live forever. But we are doing this not for ourselves but for our children and our children’s children, and those who will follow in their footsteps.
And so, I wish you every good fortune in this significant endeavour,” the Queen concluded.

Buckingham Palace announced last week that the Queen would not attend the summit person as planned and would follow medical advice to rest. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is not attending COP26 in-person, said in a written address to the summit that the country will “rein in the irrational development of energy-intensive and high-emission projects,” but fell short of making any firm climate pledges.

According to a translation published by state-run Xinhua news agency, Xi said: “We will foster a green, low-carbon and circular economic system at a faster pace, press ahead with industrial structure adjustment, and rein in the irrational development of energy-intensive and high-emission projects.”  

China — currently the world’s largest carbon emitter — will “roll out specific implementation plans for key areas,” such as energy, industry transport, coal, electricity, iron and steel, and cement, according to Xinhua, “as well as supporting measures in terms of science and technology, carbon sink, fiscal and taxation, and financial incentives.”

China last week announced it plans to cut its reliance on fossil fuels to below 20% by 2060. It has also said its carbon emissions will peak before 2030. 

In September Xi promised that China will not build any new coal-fired power projects abroad, however, the following month he ordered his country to “produce as much coal as possible” amid an ongoing energy crunch.

The Brazilian delegation to COP26 presented a plan that included a goal to end all illegal deforestation by 2028.

In the presentation, which followed a speech by Brazil’s Environment Minister Joaquim Leite, the Brazilian delegation announced Brazil’s action plan to reduce illegal deforestation starting in 2022 by 15% every year until 2024 – and then 40% in 2025 and 2026 and 50% in 2027, with a goal to end all illegal deforestation by 2028.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry tweeted:

Marcelo Freire, Brazil’s Joint Secretary for Climate International Relations at the Ministry of Environment, presented Brazil’s plan which included the country’s goal to restore and reforest 18 million hectares of forests, for multiple uses, by 2030. The initial goal, according to the delegation, was to recover 12 million hectares of forest by 2030 but the government says it already reached 16 million hectares in 2020.

Regarding the energy sector, the action plan included increasing the use of biofuels like ethanol and increasing the use of renewable energy, and reducing emissions. 

“We are going to continue increasing industrial standards and using technologies that are less intensive in emissions,” Freire said

The plan also included incentivizing and advancing the manufacture of hybrid and electric vehicles, implementing specific programs to reduce emissions in the agriculture sector, investment in new railroad networks to transport freight and reduce road transport to reduce emissions. According to the plan, one railway could bring a roughly 77% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere compared to road freight transportation. The plan also aims to create new standards for industrial processes and the facilitation of green businesses. 

Hours before the presentation of Brazil’s plan, Human Rights Watch said Brazil’s climate commitments and policies “fall far short” of what is needed to address the crisis in the Amazon, the group said in a statement. The Brazilian delegation arrived in Glasgow with a national action plan “less ambitious than its previous one” and that the government lacked a credible plan to save the Amazon rainforest, the HRW statement said.

“The Bolsonaro government now wants the world to think it is committed to saving the rainforest,” said Maria Laura Canineu, Brazil director at Human Rights Watch. “But this commitment cannot be taken seriously given its disastrous record and failure to present credible plans for making urgently needed progress in fighting deforestation.”

Some background: Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon soared since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019 and surged to a 12-year high in the year between August 2019 and July 2020, according to the country’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). According to INPE, during that time, more than 6,800 square miles were destroyed – the highest levels of destruction since 2008.

INPE recorded 985 square kilometers — or about 380 square miles — of deforestation in the Amazon in September 2021. It is the second highest figure ever recorded by the institute for the month of September, with the worst being 1,454 square kilometers (or 561 square miles) in 2019. 

As President Joe Biden meets with other world leaders in Glasgow, his climate agenda is on the line in Washington, and moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia just cast doubt that the measures would be voted on any time soon.

Democrats’ $1.75 trillion economic framework contains $555 billion worth of climate policy – a historic US investment in the climate crisis. Biden said Sunday he believed the package could pass this week, as his climate envoy John Kerry and other US delegates press nations to increase their climate ambitions.

But Manchin said Monday he won’t support the package until there is “greater clarity” about the impact it will have on the country’s national debt and the economy.

“Simply put, I will not support a bill that is this consequential without thoroughly understanding the impact that it will have on our national debt, our economy and most importantly all of our American people,” Manchin said at a news conference Monday afternoon. 

Manchin has been coy about his views of this proposal, despite months of efforts by Biden and his team to court the senator to back a pared back plan. But Manchin has been concerned about a number of proposals, including an expansion of Medicare. The package’s cornerstone climate measure — a clean electricity program — was stripped from the bill earlier this month after objections from Manchin, who represents a coal-dependent state.

Meanwhile in Glasgow, Biden warned that “every day we delay, the cost of inaction increases.”

“Right now, we’re still falling short. There’s no time to hang back, sit on the fence or argue amongst ourselves,” Biden said Monday. “This is the challenge of our collective lifetime — the existential threat to human existence as we know it. And every day we delay, the cost of inaction increases. So let this be the moment that we answer history’s call here in Glasgow.”

Israel may be a “small country” but its “impact on climate change can be mighty,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said during his opening remarks at the COP26 summit. 

He heralded the country’s commitment to phasing out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and coal use by 2025, but said that greater focus needs to be placed on innovation. Israel’s ambition is to become a “climate innovation nation” which places emphasis on new technologies and inventions, he said. 

Bennett pointed to Israel’s landmark progress in water innovation as an example. Despite the country being “60% desert,” it has “managed to become the world’s number one country in the water innovation.”

Bennett made a call to entrepreneurs around the globe, advising them to “launch startups” that solve “global threats” rather than another “hyped-up internet app.”

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed on Monday that Australia was on track to lower the country’s emissions by 35% until 2030, which would exceed the country’s Paris agreement commitment. 

Even if Australia achieved the 35% reduction, it would be well below the pledges of some of its closest allies, including the US, UK and European Union. Australia has arguably the weakest climate pledge of all the G20’s developed nations.

Morrison reflected on the recent past and pointed out that there was reason for optimism given how the world was “staring into the abyss” 18 months ago. “The vaccines we would need had not only not been invented, but there had never been a vaccine for Coronavirus. But here we are. Billions vaccinated and the world is reclaiming what COVID has taken from us,” Morrison said. 

“The challenge of combating climate change will be met the same way,” Morrison added. 

The Australian prime minister went on to stress that the fight in this climate crisis would be taken up mostly by those who were not present in the room.

“It will be our scientists, our technologists, our engineers, our entrepreneurs, our industrialists and our financiers that will actually chart the path to net zero and it is up to us, as leaders of governments to back them in,” Morrison said. 

“Technology will have the answers to a decarbonized economy, particularly over time and achieve it in a way that does not deny our citizens, especially in developing economies, their livelihoods, or the opportunity for a better quality of life,” Morrison added. 

To continue investing in solutions to stop climate change, the Australian PM promised that Australia would invest over “$20 billion over the next decade to drive the transition, leveraging private sector investment to reach $80 billion in total.”

“The scene is set global momentum to tackle climate change is building countries with net zero commitments cover over 80% of the world GDP,” Morrison added. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a five-point climate agenda during his address at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Most notably, he pledged India will achieve net zero emissions by 2070.

With this, all of the world’s top 10 coal-power countries have now committed to net-zero, according to climate think tank Ember.

However, India’s goal of 2070 target is decades later than other polluter economies, and even later than China, which has targeted 2060.

“I’m happy to report that a developing country like India, which is working to lift millions out of poverty and working on their ease of living, accounts for 17% of the world’s population but only 5% of the world’s carbon emissions,” Modi said Monday. “But it has not left any stone unturned in fulfilling its promise, and the whole world agrees that India is the only big economy that has delivered on the Paris Agreement in letter and spirit.”

He also touted the Indian railway network for setting a goal to be net-zero by 2030, reducing emissions by 40 million tonnes by 2030.

Here are the promises Modi made in his five-point climate agenda:

Modi also called on developed nations to contribute $1 trillion in climate financing to help developing countries transition to green energy and adapt to the climate crisis. He said he believes those contributions should be tracked.

“Climate finance ambitions cannot remain at the same levels as they were during the Paris Climate Agreement. Now that India has made a new commitment, the need for climate finance and low-cost technology transfer has become even more important,” he said.

Four young activists from around the world are arriving at COP26 on Monday aboard Greenpeace’s “Rainbow Warrior.”

It was a tight squeeze under the Erskine Bridge, which spans the River Clyde northwest of Glasgow.

The activists arriving via the boat are:

The ship was originally warned it would not be allowed to sail down the Clyde toward the restricted zone around the conference, Greenpeace said, but was granted passage Monday morning.

“World leaders attending the talks could learn a lot from this cooperation,” the four activists said in a joint statement. “We have been ignored long enough, and now with a safe passage to Glasgow our voices must be heard at COP26.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged world leaders to do “more and faster” and formally committed to a cap on emissions produced by Canada’s large oil and gas sector.

“We’ll cap oil and gas sector emissions today and ensure they decrease tomorrow at a pace and scale needed to reach net zero by 2050,” Trudeau said in his opening remarks at the COP 26 summit.  

“That’s no small task for a major oil and gas producing country. It’s a big step that’s absolutely necessary.”  The Canadian Prime Minister explained that this will be achieved by Canada’s doubling of its climate financing, “including up to a billion dollars for the transition away from coal and to help deal with the consequences of climate change.”

Trudeau appealed to the urgency of the commitment to the Paris agreement, saying that the conference in Glasgow must deliver on those promises. “The threat of climate change knows no borders and that is why you must work together to achieve tangible results,” he said. He urged for the same global cooperation as seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. “We must act with the same urgency against the climate crisis and biodiversity loss,” Trudeau said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the global focus on mitigation strategies over adaptation strategies to tackle climate change, calling it an “injustice towards the developing countries that are heavily affected.”

“For the farmers of many developing countries, including India, climate is a big challenge. There is a change in cropping pattern. Untimely rains, floods and consistently incoming storms are destroying crops. From sources of drinking water to affordable housing, all need to be made resilient against climate change,” he said Monday.

He proposed three solutions that, he said, would be more effective in the context of India and other countries in the same position.

First, make adaptation a primary part of development policies and schemes.

“In India, our various projects like Tap Water for All, Clean India Mission and Clean Cooking Fuel For All have not only provided adaptation benefits to our citizens in need, but also improved their quality of life.”

Second, many traditional communities know how to live in tandem with nature, he said.

“These traditional practices should find appropriate importance in our adaptation policies. School syllabi should include educating students about these practices so the currents of this traditional knowledge also reaches the new generation,” Modi added.

Finally, he called for global support in helping developing countries build and implement local adaptation strategies, and invited all countries to join the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

Despite the outsized impact the climate crisis has on Pacific Island nations— in the form of sea level rise, worsening drought and extreme temperatures — just four out of more than a dozen leaders are scheduled to represent their countries at COP26: Fiji, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Palau.

Pandemic restrictions, vaccine inequity and economic barriers hindered many of these nations from sending official delegations to Glasgow.

Yet climate change has been threatening the very existence of Pacific Islands, causing drought, coastal erosion, dwindling fish stocks, intensifying storms and sea level rise. 

In an opening speech at COP26, Samoan climate activist Brianna Fruean said world leaders have the power to make a difference.

“You all have the power here today to be better — to remember that in your meeting rooms and drafting documents are more than just black and white objects,” Fruean said. “To remember that in your words you wield the weapons that can save us or sell us out.”

According to a United Nations report, at least 57% of the infrastructure in the Pacific Islands will be threatened by rising sea levels during this century.

As countries like China, the US and Australia pump more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, the 10 million or so people who call the islands of the Pacific home continue to pay the greatest cost for other countries’ failure to cut fossil fuel use.

“If you’re looking for inspiration, look no further than the climate leadership of the young Pacific people,” Fruean said.

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has warned that the climate crisis facing her country is deeply perilous and has said that the crisis is a “code red to China, to the US, to Europe, to India.”

Barbados is an island that is already deeply threatened by rising sea levels and Mottley told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that large emitters, such as the United States and China, are not yet taking the urgent climate action needed to mitigate that threat.

“Those who need to make the decisions are kicking the can down the road, and they believe that they can, because they are not seeing us — they see themselves,” she said. “For them, they don’t reach that period of peril for another 15 to 20 years… there are a lot of us who are going to be affected before Shanghai and Miami.” 

Speaking from the COP 26 summit in Glasgow, Mottley said that her country is at the frontline of the climate crisis. “We have a serious problem with water. We have effectively drought like conditions for the better part of the last few years where almost half the island is at risk of not getting adequate water,” she said. “We have an impact with respect to our coral reefs. A lot of the marine island we saw as children is no longer there.” 

“This year Barbados had its first hurricane in 66 years and before that, we had a.. storm that lasted 90 minutes and that had 46,000 lightning strikes in 90 minutes.”

“They’re waiting for it to hit them. We are hoping that a conscience will be pricked and that nobody is safe until everybody is safe…those who don’t listen will ultimately pay the price.”

“We’re in this together and… if you haven’t learned from the pandemic that all of us are suffering then you will not learn from anything. We need to move together,” she added.

Adhering to time limits and word counts is hard, even for world leaders.

Under the COP26 rules, each head of state has three minutes to deliver their national address. However, many leaders went over this allotted time, including US President Joe Biden.

Each time a leader goes over, a gong sound is played as a warning. Some leaders received this gong warning more than once.

While COP26 asks leaders to deliver their remarks in short, it allows leaders to provide the full text of their statements to be “uploaded and made available on the UNFCCC website.”

President Joe Biden apologized to world leaders at the COP26 summit Monday for actions taken by the Trump administration in pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.

“I guess I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize for the fact that the United States — the last administration — pulled out of the Paris Accords and put us sort of behind the 8 ball,” Biden said at an event on action and solidarity in Glasgow.

“We have the tools I think we have the know bow and we have the resources. I think we have to make some choices,” Biden added.

Biden is under pressure to demonstrate American commitment to climate change. World leaders have wondered how durable his promises can be when political changes can cause the country to drastically change course. 

While the cameras are pointing at the world leaders delivering lofty statements from the stage, the nitty-gritty negotiations are going on away from the limelight.

The real work on climate agreements is done by the national delegations, which are usually composed of experts from each country’s government, non-governmental organizations and the civil society.

These are the people who sit through the long meetings debating each word of any agreement that’s to be struck. Some of them have been preparing for the Glasgow summit since the last COP in 2019. They’ve been laying the groundwork and making sure that as many countries as possible are on board long before the leaders descended on Glasgow.

Away from the main stage, through a long maze of corridors, are a number of meeting rooms where different groupings of states get together to agree a common position before bringing their opinion to the plenary. These include the EU, the Alliance of Small Island States, the G7 and others.

The pandemic has made the negotiations tricky, because the need for social distancing means the negotiation rooms have a much smaller capacity than they would normally.

In her last COP address as chancellor, Germany’s Angela Merkel said government actions alone will not be sufficient in the fight against climate change and pleaded for better pricing on carbon dioxide emissions. 

“What we need is a comprehensive transformation of the way we live, work and do business. And that’s why I want to make a clear plea here for the pricing of carbon emissions. Of CO2 emissions. With such pricing, which we already have in the European Union, which is being introduced in China, and which needs to be developed with many others around the world, we can further our industry, our economy, find the best and most efficient ways for technology to get to climate neutrality,” she said on Monday in Glasgow, Scotland. 

“It is about changing our economy, working, and that is a comprehensive transformation, and then we will know how best to arrange CO2-free mobility, CO2-free industry and CO2-free processes of our life,” she added.

Merkel urged leaders to be more ambitious.

“In the decade of action, in the decade we are living in now, to be more ambitious nationally, but to find instruments globally that not only use tax money, but are also economically reasonable, and for me that is CO2 pricing.”

Although they are all “world leaders” for the purpose of this conference, there’s a clear and universally acknowledged pecking order among the heads of states and governments.

At the leaders breakout area — which is sat between the two plenary rooms — many leaders of the smaller countries are mingling, greeting each other and catching up while having coffee and resting in armchairs adorned with little pillows.

The big guns, however, are not hanging about. US President Joe Biden has not made an appearance in the lunch room. French President Emanuel Macron breezed though with his large entourage, not stopping to speak to anyone. And Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez didn’t stop for a snack either.

The outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel spent a few moments in the breakout room, preparing for her speech and surrounded by her team, who were shielding her from the many people who wanted to meet her.

Meanwhile, three seats over, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was slightly more approachable, greeting members of other delegations, who were patiently waiting to speak to him. 

The United States wants to help developing countries accelerate their clean energy transitions, President Joe Biden said in his address at the COP26 summit, adding, “we have an obligation to help.”

The Biden administration is working with US Congress to quadruple the country’s climate finance support to developing countries by 2024, including increasing support for adaptation efforts, he told the world leaders Monday.

Mobilizing finance is important in this “all-hands-on-deck effort,” he added.

US President Joe Biden said the climate crisis is the “the existential threat to human existence as we know it,” and urged world leaders gathered for the COP26 climate summit to come together to reduce emissions and save the planet. 

“This is the challenge of our collective lifetimes. The existential threat to human existence as we know it. And every day we delay the cost of inaction increases,” Biden said at COP26. 

The President continued: “So let this be the moment that 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 choice to do it. So let’s get to work,” Biden said. 

“Glasgow must be the kickoff of a decade of ambition and innovation to preserve our shared future,” US President Joe Biden said in his address at the COP26 summit.

He acknowledged that climate change is ravaging the world, “destroying people’s lives and livelihoods” and costing countries trillions of dollars.

“Record heat and drought, fueling more widespread wildfires, in some places crop failures and others,” he said. “What used to be once-in-a-century storms are happening every few years. In the past few months, the United States has experienced all of this.”

“We’re standing at an inflection point in world history,” he urged leaders. “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.”

US President Joe Biden urged swift action to combat the climate crisis on the first day of the pivotal COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, telling fellow world leaders there remains only a “brief window” to take action to curb emissions. 

“To state the obvious, we meet with the eyes of history upon us and a profound question before us. It’s simple: Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the enormous opportunity before us? Or will we condemn future generations to suffer,” Biden said. 

The President continued: “This is the decade that will determine the answer. This decade.”

See President Biden’s opening remarks to COP26:

Video Ad Feedback

c168793d-76c2-463a-a983-84b8a5cadce7.mp4

03:06 - Source: cnn

US President Biden’s two top climate officials, US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry and White House Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy, highlighted US action at the start of COP26 on Monday. 

Speaking to reporters, Kerry said officials would be unveiling more details on the US and EU’s Global Methane Pledge, an international pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030, as well as private financing commitments from major banks in the US. 

“Never before have we needed to put more measurement together and more transparency and more commitment than today,” Kerry said. “If you don’t do enough between 2020 and 2030, you don’t keep alive the prospect of net zero by 2050. That is what is guiding us here in Glasgow.” 

Kerry said his team has “been busy making the private sector our partners in this endeavor,” and said the six largest American banks are promising to invest a minimum of nearly $4.2 trillion towards climate projects over the next decade.

McCarthy emphasized Biden’s legislative climate agenda, which is a critical piece of overall US climate action. Last week, Biden’s White House announced a $1.75 trillion economic and climate framework, which contains $555 billion in proposed investments for climate and clean energy. Still, that framework has not yet been passed into law, as US lawmakers hammer out last-minute negotiations.

“This is what commitment looks like; this is the largest investment to combat climate in our history by tenfold,” McCarthy said. “And it’s going to let us reduce emissions well over a gigaton. We are talking about a big chunk of change here.”  

McCarthy also mentioned a new long-term strategy report released by her and Kerry’s office today, which says the US needs to start removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, using agricultural tools sequestering carbon in soil, forests and grasslands, as well as engineering carbon removal. 

Samoan climate activist Brianna Fruean told world leaders at COP 26 that they have the power to make a difference as they meet in Glasgow.

“You all have the power here today to be better. To remember that in your meeting rooms and drafting documents are more than just black and white objects,” Fruean said. “To remember that in your words you wield the weapons that can save us or sell us out.”

Fruean went on to say she didn’t have to tell global leaders about the impact climate change was already having on communities across the globe, adding that the question was whether or not they were willing to do something about it. 

“The real question is whether you have the political will to do the right thing, to wield the right words and to follow it up with long overdue action,” she said. “If you’re looking for inspiration on this, look no further for the leadership of young Pacific people. We are not just victims to this crisis. We have been resilient beacons of hope.” 

“Pacific youth have rallied behind the cry. We are not drowning. We are fighting. This is our warrior cry to the world. We are not drowning. We are fighting,” she added. 

The room is packed, with every seat taken. Because of the pandemic, each delegation has been allocated only two seats in the room — fewer than is the norm during climate conferences. Like all the other attendees, the global leaders have been told to wear masks unless seated, but many have kept their face coverings on even during the ceremony. 

The presidents and prime ministers and other top-level representatives are sat in alphabetical order in rows of desks, (this puts US President Joe Biden toward the back of the room), watching the proceedings taking place on the podium on big screens. Observers and representatives from international groups have their seats right behind the leaders.

The whole point of this ceremonial opening session is clearly to motivate the world leaders to take climate action seriously. The mood of the program is balancing somewhere between an enthusiastic call for action and a shock therapy.

Videos of the damage already done to the Earth by climate change and messages from young indigenous people are intertwined with big wig speeches that are encouraging leaders to act. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to encourage leaders that they can take a meaningful action, suggesting that if they do, they’d be just like James Bond. There were a few chuckles in the audience.

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, received somewhat lukewarm applause after urging leaders and the private sector to work together. The climate guru and British national treasure, Sir David Attenborough, played the emotional card, telling leaders that the people of the future will judge them based on what they can or cannot agree to here — a bigger applause followed his speech.

Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is essential for the existence of countries like Barbados, and reaching 2 degrees will be a “death sentence,” Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in her address to the world leaders at the opening ceremony of the COP26 summit.

“1.5 is what we need to survive. 2 degrees, yes, is a death sentence for the people of Antigua and Barbua, for the people of Maldives, for the people of Dominica and Fiji, for the people of Kenya and Mozambique, and yes, for the people of Samoa and Barbados.”

She pleaded the world leaders to take action.

“We do not want that dreaded death sentence. And we’ve come here today to say, ‘try harder, try harder,’” she said.

See the Barbados prime minister’s urgent plea to leaders at COP26:

Video Ad Feedback

7cd3b027-15c9-463a-acde-e8c0a9d8d758.mp4

02:23 - Source: cnn

Celebrated naturalist David Attenborough told leaders at the COP26 climate summit that they had the power to change the course of human history over the next two weeks, and he urged them to protect the conditions of the Earth that have allowed humans to thrive for tens of thousands of years.

He warned against short-sightedness, asking leaders how they might explain to a child that “the smartest species” on the planet failed to see the bigger picture “in pursuit of short-term goals.”

He added that the answer to the climate crisis needed to be equitable, saying that “those who have done the least to cause this problem are being the hardest hit.”

He said that the conference has the chance “to rewrite our story to turn this tragedy into a triumph.”

“We are all the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth,” he said. “Our motivation should not be fear but hope.” 

The grim projections that are being discussed at COP26 are already a reality in Saint-Louis, a coastal city in Senegal that is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, known as the “Venice of Africa.”

CNN’s Fred Pleitgen reports on how rising sea levels have decimated the fishing community on the Atlantic Ocean, where some people are still living in buildings destroyed by storm surges.

A combination of the climate crisis, overfishing and lack of jobs has caused many young people to flee the city, attempting a dangerous sea crossing to Spain’s Canary Islands.

Watch the full report below:

Acknowledging the trillion-dollar strength of the private sector, Prince Charles said countries should work with industries to create solutions to climate change.

“Our efforts cannot be a series of independent initiatives running on parallel. The scale and scope of the threat we face call for a global systems-level solution based on radically transforming our current fossil fuel-based economy to one that is genuinely renewable and sustainable,” he said Monday.

“My plea today is for countries to come together to create the environment that enables every sector of industry to take the action required. We know this will take trillions, not billions, of dollars,” he added.

As some economies find themselves burdened by growing debt, Prince Charles acknowledged that they cannot “afford to go green,” and that helping them would require the “strength of the global private sector with trillions at its disposal.”

“It offers the only real prospect of achieving fundamental economic transition,” he said.

Climate change and loss of biodiversity pose a great threat and put the world on “war-like footing,” Prince Charles said in his address to world leaders convening at the opening ceremony of COP26.

“The eyes and hopes of the world are upon you” to act decisively, he added.

Citing the latest United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which was deemed “code red for humanity” by the UN Secretary General, Prince Charles said urgent action against climate change is critical.

Watch Prince Charles’ full speech to world leaders at COP26’s opening ceremony:

Video Ad Feedback

fc6b78dd-95d5-495c-84bf-f6928a0d3f2b.mp4

07:02 - Source: cnn

Prime Minister Gaston Browne said Antigua and Barbuda is “encouraged by the increased ambitions” set by world leaders at the COP26 summit, but he also expressed disappointment, saying the targets set don’t go “far enough in order to contain rising global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius.”

Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo said he is not feeling optimistic about what the COP26 conference can achieve.

“We’ve heard all of this before. What we need is an action. I am not optimistic there will be enough of it,” he said.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said he has no hopes for COP26 to reach a major agreement on climate and that Europe is “the only one” putting “a lot of effort.”

“We can not do it alone … or we’ll lose competitiveness,” he warned.

Watch:

At the opening of the World Leader Summit at COP26 in Glasgow, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres told world leaders, “we’re digging our own grave” and that the world must take immediate action at this climate conference to avert it.

While he cited stark examples of the rapidly changing planet due to “our addiction to fossil fuels,” which he said is pushing humanity to the brink, he also highlighted what can be accomplished to this keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal alive.

As countries make progress, Guterres said the private sector must add to it.

“I will establish a group of experts to propose clear standards to measure and analyze net zero commitments from non-state actors,” which will go beyond mechanisms already established in the Paris Agreement, Guterres said Monday.

“We face a stark choice: Either we stop it or it stops us,” he said. “It’s time to say, ‘enough.’ Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves,” he said at the opening ceremony. “We need maximum ambition from all countries on all fronts to make Glasgow a success.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson kicked off COP26, welcoming delegates to Glasgow in his classic jocular fashion. Here are some highlights:

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson invoked the fictional British secret agent James Bond when he urged global leaders to turn the tide on the climate crisis, drawing an analogy between “defusing” a ticking time bomb and the climate crisis the world is facing.

“We may not feel much like James Bond, not all of us necessarily look like James Bond, but we have the opportunity and we have the duty to make this summit the moment when humanity finally began, began to defuse that bomb,” he said.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose government is hosting the COP26 talks, warned Monday that humanity has run down the clock on climate change.

“Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change. It’s one minute to midnight and we need to act now,” Johnson told delegates, speaking at the opening ceremony of the World Leaders Summit.

“If we don’t get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow,” Johnson said.

“We have to move from talk and debate and discussion to concerted, real-world action on coal, cars, cash and trees.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson channeled teen climate activist Greta Thunberg in his address at the COP26, saying if the world leaders don’t get serious about their actions against climate change, then the promises to achieve net zero emissions will be “nothing but blah, blah, blah, to coin a phrase.”

“The anger and the impatience of the world will be uncontainable unless we make this COP26 in Glasgow the moment when we get real about climate change. And we can. We can get real on coal, cars cash and trees,” he added.

Thunberg made a speech at the recent Youth for Climate conference in which she mocked Johnson, as well as US President Joe Biden and French leader Emmanuel Macron, suggesting their climate talk amounted to “blah, blah, blah.”

The lights have been dimmed in the plenary hall and the Opening Ceremony, hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, welcoming delegates to the World Leaders Summit of COP26 is about to get underway.

World leaders and politicians are currently milling around the plenary hall, greeting each other ahead of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s speech welcoming them to COP26.

CNN’s Ivana Kottasová is at the world leaders summit, where she captured chaotic scenes as delegates struggled to get through the entrance.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce the United Kingdom will commit an additional £1 billion – or $1.368 billion USD – in aid for climate finance by 2025, if Britain’s economy grows as forecast.  

The Prime Minister is expected to tell leaders meeting at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow on Monday that the world must move from aspiration to action to limit rising global temperatures, according to a government statement released late Sunday forecasting his remarks.  

He will urge world leaders to take concrete steps on phasing out coal, accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, and halting deforestation, as well as supporting developing nations on the frontline of the climate crisis with climate finance, the statement said.  

The actions will make the biggest difference in reducing emissions this decade on the world’s path to net zero and keeping alive the global aim of limiting rising temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement, according to the statement.  

“If we don’t get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow,” Johnson is expected to say.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be speaking live via video link at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, but has recorded a video message for participants of one of the conferences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

“Unfortunately, Putin will not be speaking at the climate conference because Glasgow does not offer the possibility of participating by videoconference,” Peskov told journalists during a conference call.
“However, within the framework of the Climate Change Summit in Glasgow, there will be a conference on forestry and land use. The President has already recorded a video message to the participants of this conference,” Peskov said. 

Putin expressed Russia’s position on climate change issues at the G20 summit, Peskov added.

“In many respects, the themes of Glasgow and the climate issue at the G20 overlapped,” Peskov said. “Therefore, speaking at the G20, President [Putin] already… outlined the approaches of the Russian side [on climate change] in sufficient detail.”

On Sunday, President Biden expressed “disappointment” that Russia, as well as China, didn’t show up with climate pledges and the countries’ leaders did not attend the G20 summit in person.

US Climate Envoy John Kerry and his team were hoping things would look very different heading into the world’s premier climate summit this week, but officials have begun downplaying expectations as clouds gather over the upcoming talks. 

It’s a dreary turn of events for Kerry at the capstone of his long year of work for President Joe Biden, potentially his last big act of service in the spotlight before he returns to private life. Friends and colleagues tell CNN they have long assumed Kerry would leave government service after a year or so. 

But that plan was largely based on the hope of a big first-year win for the climate – while Congress is closer than it has been in months to passing major elements of Biden’s climate agenda, which will be the largest investment the US has ever made on the climate crisis, a bill is still not signed. 

An impending global energy crisis has thrown markets into a “tailspin,” as one Kerry aide put it to CNN, prompting Biden to plead for more crude oil production from oil-producing nations in the Middle East. 

And neither Chinese President Xi Jinping nor Russian President Vladimir Putin – leaders of two of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the world – will even be attending the summit, known as COP26. 

The circumstances have led Biden administration officials to lower expectations for the Glasgow meeting, which they are messaging more as the beginning of a long process than as the culmination of Kerry’s efforts over the last eight months. 

It is also unclear how long Kerry will remain in the job after COP26. It had been widely assumed among Kerry’s friends that he would bow out after the summit, according to former Obama adviser John Podesta. A State Department official said that was the sense internally as well. 

Read more about Kerry’s work in recent months rallying foreign allies and adversaries to make bolder commitments to fight climate change:

John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate, arrives to a Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, on Sept. 17, 2021. Biden is hosting the virtual discussion of climate change with world leaders as he tries to accelerate efforts to slash greenhouse gases amid concerns that commitments are lagging before a pivotal United Nations summit.

Related article John Kerry and his team downplay expectations for UN climate conference with Congress mulling Biden's agenda

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has told CNN that China needs to demonstrate a clear climate plan if they are to be a global leader. 

Speaking to Christiane Amanpour from the COP26 summit in Glasgow, von der Leyen said that it is “very important that they [China] step up and show what they are going to do.” 

Neither Chinese President Xi or Russian President Vladimir Putin – leaders of two of the biggest global greenhouse gas emitters – are attending the summit. 

For the world to achieve its climate goals, Von der Leyen told Amanpour that global leaders must come together:

“We have to get everyone on board. So what physical presence at the G20 and at COP26 is concerned, I highly appreciate for example that Prime Minister Modi from India did come. This is a very important sign that he is engaging. We would have liked to see China and Russia being here.”
“Indeed for Russia, if they want to have a future proof economy, they have to rapidly engage in modernizing their economy and modernizing means decarbonizing,” she said. 
“Our experience in the European Union is that you can prosper while cutting emissions.”

This week’s Glasgow climate summit should act as pressure on countries like China to do more, the White House says.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Beijing “has an obligation to step up to greater ambition as we go forward, and we’ll keep pressing on that.”

Biden said Sunday he was disappointed Chinese President Xi Jinping wasn’t attending either the G20 summit or the Glasgow climate talks. Xi will deliver a written statement at the COP26 conference.

Sullivan said China was a “significant outlier” in a global push to keep temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, as well as a holdout on international efforts to finance climate change resilience in vulnerable areas.

“Glasgow, from our perspective, is a key moment setting us off on a decisive decade of climate action,” Sullivan said. “And if we can come out of here with the wind at our back with these enormous commitments across financing mitigation adaptation, we believe that pressure will build on the countries that have not yet stepped up and the world will look them to them to do their part. That’s what we expect. That’s what we’re looking for.”

Related article US vs. China: How the world's two biggest emitters stack up on climate

The sheer size of the COP26 conference means the event requires a huge amount of resources. The organizers are trying to make it as sustainable as possible, and to source food on the menu locally.

Delegates are ferried around in electric buses and encouraged to walk or take public transport whenever possible. 

Coffee (and there’s a lot being consumed) is served in reusable cups and on the menu yesterday was locally-sourced Scottish barley broth soup, and salmon and beetroot salad.

Temporary traffic lights that have been installed across Glasgow to manage the traffic and ensure security are solar-powered and hydro-treated vegetable oil is being used in generators instead of diesel. 

And in keeping with the sustainability theme, taps in the bathrooms are cold water-only (which might be a questionable choice given the current coronavirus pandemic!). 

President Joe Biden’s ambitions to lead the world in slowing the planet’s warming will be tested on two continents this week as he travels to Scotland for the most important climate talks in years, while back home lawmakers come closer to making his visions a reality.

Already, Biden has been hampered somewhat by infighting among Democrats and entrenched fossil fuel interests, which have forced him to scale back some of the most audacious aspects of his climate agenda. Deep differences between world leaders also persist over money, national interests and responsibility.

The proposals currently pending in Congress, which Biden said Sunday he believes could pass this week, reflect historic investments in cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

His challenge this week is convincing fellow leaders that the US will remain committed to the cause, and to cajole them to do more themselves.

Biden’s failure to arrive in Glasgow with a legislative deal in hand has been downplayed by officials as having little effect on the views of the leaders at the summit itself, touting the bill as concrete evidence of the US climate commitment, with clear black-and-white details of the most significant climate action in American history.

Still, world leaders may be forgiven for appearing skeptical. After Barack Obama made combatting change a priority during his administration, Donald Trump reversed course, withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Agreement and rolling back regulations on tailpipe emissions, power plants and more. And world leaders still remember the Kyoto Protocol, which the US refused to ratify.

Biden hopes for more durable climate commitments as part of the new spending plan but is still relying on the rule-making process for other items like cutting methane emissions.

Read the full story here:

U.S. President Joe Biden waves as he boards Air Force One after attending the G20 summit in Rome, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. U.S. President Joe Biden will now head to the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, which gathers leaders from around the world to lay out their vision for addressing the common challenge of global warming. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Related article Joe Biden wants America to lead the world against the climate crisis. That goal faces a big test this week.

CNN’s Ella Nilsen contributed to this report.

The fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping is not going to COP26 is probably not surprising, given he hasn’t left the country since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. But what’s disappointing to many is his government’s recently published roadmap to achieve the ambitious climate pledges he made just a few years ago – including reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

While the document detailed new measures on how the world’s biggest polluter will decarbonize, the country is only modestly updating its pledge to reduce emissions.

CNN’s Beijing Bureau Chief Steven Jiang breaks down China’s new emissions pledge to the UN:

“They aim to have 25% of [their] energy mix coming from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 and then increase this number to 80% by 2060. But when you look at a current picture on the ground – you know, I’m coming from this very smoggy Beijing today – it’s one reminder that 60% of its energy consumption is still from coal, and much of the country’s post Covid economic recovery is powered by the construction of dozens more new coal-fired power plants, and other projects are very much reliant on coal.”
“Not to mention, we’ve been talking about this power crunch and that’s why they had also recently ordered coal mines around the country to produce as much coal as possible, so very much trying to strike a balance between ensuring energy security and cutting carbon emissions. But all of this, of course, is why there are growing questions and skepticism about whether or not the world’s biggest polluter can actually achieve its very lofty goals.”

The organisers of the COP26 conference have been trying to square a number of circles in the run-up to the meeting, to make sure everyone is safe and secure while also keeping in mind inclusivity and the environmental impact of the huge gathering. 

There are:

21,238 delegates
13,834 observers
3,823 journalists

And they’re all mingling in confined spaces – keeping social distancing and other Covid-19 precautions is a challenge.

Anyone entering the venue has to present a daily negative Covid-19 test result — although those tests are self-administered and results are self-reported, so the system largely relies on people’s honesty. Masks are compulsory throughout the venue and even the world leaders have been advised to wear them unless seated. 

The UN has always stressed that COP should be an inclusive forum where the world’s biggest emitters sit at the same table as the world’s smallest nations, many of which are feeling the worst impacts of climate change.

But the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown a spanner into this approach. Some countries have struggled to send delegations to Glasgow because of coronavirus restrictions and social distancing inside the venue means that the number of seats at each negotiation table is strictly limited.

While Espinosa said the organizers are trying to find solutions on how to make negotiations accessible for as many delegations as possible, it is already clear this will be very tricky. 

The largest negotiations room at the COP26 venue in Glasgow has 144 seats, 72 around a table and 72 in the “second row.”

President Joe Biden will deliver a “personal commitment” to combating climate change during remarks at the Glasgow COP26 summit on Monday.

In a speech at the conference, Biden will “talk about what the United States is prepared to do to fulfill its obligation, including the investments we’re making, the targets we intend to hit, both with respect to 2030 and 2050,” his national security adviser told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden flew from Rome to Scotland.

Biden is expected to speak later on Monday morning. In his speech, Biden will “also talk about the progress that we have made this year and the momentum we have built, and then he will talk about the work that needs to be done,” Jake Sullivan said.

He’ll also convey his belief that it’s a false choice between progress on climate and delivering economic results.

“The right kind of strategy can and will deliver both,” Sullivan said, citing Biden’s pending legislative agenda that contains $555 billion in climate provisions.

His speech will seek to cajole other nations in taking their own bold steps toward combating climate change.

“The speech will be a clarion call, it will be a very strong statement of his personal commitment, of our country’s commitment, not just to do our part but to help lead the world in mobilizing and catalyzing the action necessary to achieve our goals,” Sullivan said.

Seeking to address the somewhat dampened expectations for the Glasgow summit by foreign leaders and others, Sullivan insisted the mood remained optimistic. He said setting a high bar was necessary to accomplish results.

“Anytime you head into a summit where you’re trying to hit very high ambition, there’s a certain motivation around ‘we’ve done some things, but we haven’t done enough’ as a kind of mindset. That’s not a bad thing, because I do think we want the whole world to feel the pressure to step up and do more,” he said.

He said Biden was eager to talk up his major spending bills with fellow world leaders, despite uncertainty on when they will pass Congress.

“What we have found over the course of this weekend is that world leaders are a sophisticated bunch. They well understand that legislative process takes time. Legislative texts needs finalizing, votes need to be cast, but there is a significant expectation that this can and will happen, and it can and will happen in the near term,” Sullivan added.

China and the United States are the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, so any attempt to address the climate crisis will need to involve deep emissions cuts from these two powerhouse nations.

China’s emissions are more than double those of the US, but historically, the US has emitted more than any other country in the world.

There are many factors to consider when judging a country’s climate credentials, and as leaders gather in Glasgow, Scotland for COP26, the US’ and China’s plans will be in the spotlight.

Read here to see how the two stack up against each other:

Related article US vs. China: How the world's two biggest emitters stack up on climate

Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to release a pre-written statement addressing delegations at COP26 on Monday, according to a list of speakers released by the United Nations.

Xi is listed last after a number of heads of state and government due to speak on Monday, followed by a note that reads: “Written statement to be uploaded on the conference website.” 

When asked about whether China’s leader was planning to attend COP26, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday that the “information will be released in due time.”

Xi is one of a small number of high-profile leaders not attending the summit. The Chinese president hasn’t left the country since the onset of the pandemic.

More than 120 world leaders will begin speaking to the conference at 1:45 p.m. local (9:45 a.m. ET) on Monday after an opening session including speeches by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles and celebrated naturalist David Attenborough. Kicking off the leaders’ speeches after that are Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Perez-Castejón and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. There is a strict three-minute limit on speeches.

World leaders are starting to arrive at the SEC centre in Glasgow, Scotland, where they are being greeted by Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The greetings have been a series of elbow bumps and social-distanced hand gestures.

The Group of 20’s leaders’ summit ended Sunday with an agreement on climate that commits its member nations to end coal financing by the end of the year and aims to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

But the final communiqué lacked firm pledges and failed to put an end date on the actual use of coal. It didn’t make any commitments to improve on issues like climate finance, paving the way for difficult negotiations at the COP26 summit.

Mohamed Adow, director of the climate energy think tank Power Shift Africa, said the message from the G20 was “weak.”

In the final statement, the 20 biggest world economies said they “would accelerate our actions” to achieve net-zero emissions by or around mid-century. Leaders for the first time acknowledged officially that its members’ emissions reductions plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), needed to be firmed up over this decade to put them on track for net zero by 2050.

They said they recognized that “G20 members can significantly contribute to the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions” and committed “to take further action this decade” on enhancing “where necessary” their emissions-reductions pledges for the year 2030.

“We recognize that the impacts of climate change at 1.5°C are much lower than at 2°C,” the communiqué states.

“Keeping 1.5°C within reach will require meaningful and effective actions and commitment by all countries, taking into account different approaches, through the development of clear national pathways that align long-term ambition with short- and medium-term goals, and with international cooperation and support, including finance and technology, sustainable and responsible consumption and production as critical enablers, in the context of sustainable development.”

Read more about the agreement here:

Alok Sharma, president of COP26, delivers the opening remarks during the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, U.K., on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. Negotiators reached agreement on the climate section of the Group of 20 summits final conclusions, giving leaders something to take onto the COP26 summit in Glasgow this week. Photographer: Emily Macinnes/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Related article COP26 climate talks off to an ominous start after weak G20 leaders' meeting

Leaders at COP26 will discuss ways to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century. Net zero can be achieved by removing as much greenhouse gas from the atmosphere as what’s emitted, so the net amount added is zero.

To do this, countries and companies will need to rely on natural methods — like planting trees or restoring grasslands — to soak up carbon dioxide (CO2), the most abundant greenhouse gas we emit, or use technology to “capture” the gas and store it away where it won’t escape into the atmosphere.

Dozens of countries have already pledged to achieve net zero by mid-century and there is huge pressure on countries that haven’t yet to do so at COP26.

There’s a lot more jargon to get a grasp on if you’re following COP26. Read more here for a guide on what these words actually mean:

Related article What does 'net zero' mean? Our climate change glossary will help you sound smart

Alok Sharma — a British lawmaker and the COP26 President — has said he wants this year’s conference to reach agreement on a number of key targets, including:

COP is short for the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change, which is an event that takes place annually, though it was postponed last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. World leaders do attend, but a lot of the discussions take place among ministers and other high-level officials working on climate issues. The 26 signifies that this is the group’s 26th meeting.

The conferences are massive events with a lot of side meetings that attract people from the business sector, fossil fuel companies, climate activists and other groups with a stake in the climate crisis. Some of them are successful — the Paris Agreement was hammered out during COP21, for example — and some are painfully unproductive.

More than 190 countries signed onto the Paris Agreement after the COP21 meeting in 2015, to limit the increase in global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but preferably to 1.5 degrees.

Half a degree may not sound like a huge difference, but scientists say any additional warming past 1.5 degrees will trigger more intense and frequent climate extremes. For example, limiting warming to 1.5 degrees instead of 2 degrees could result in around 420 million fewer people being frequently exposed to extreme heatwaves, according to the UN.

Scientists see 2 degrees as a critical threshold where extreme weather would render some of the world’s most densely populated areas into uninhabitable deserts or flood them with sea water.

Although the Paris Agreement was a landmark moment in the quest to address the climate crisis, it didn’t include details on how the world would achieve its goal. The subsequent COPs have sought to make the plans attached to it more ambitious and to detail courses of action.

“On paper, the Paris Agreement was always designed as a cyclical process — ‘see you in five years, with better plans and renewed efforts,’” said Lola Vallejo, the climate program director at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations. “So right now, we are at this deadline, pushed back by Covid.”

Read more about COP26 here:

Related article What is COP26? How the pivotal UN conference could avert global climate 'catastrophe'

More than 120 world leaders have been confirmed as attending COP26 in person, on the heels of the G20 summit in Rome.

Some key leaders to watch are US President Joe Biden, special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, British Member of Parliament and the President of COP26 Alok Sharma, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. There will be some focus on Australian President Scott Morrison, who has faced scrutiny over his pledges on emissions.

Notable absences include China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.

Queen Elizabeth II was slated to attend, but she is not going for health reasons.

Other notable attendees are former US President Barack Obama, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, Prince Charles, Prince William, designer Stella McCartney and Sir David Attenborough, who is the COP26 People’s Advocate.

President Biden is planning a show of strength at the pivotal UN climate summit in Glasgow.

CNN reported last month that the President is sending 13 cabinet members and senior administration officials, including his top domestic and international climate advisers Gina McCarthy and John Kerry, according to a schedule obtained by CNN.

Kerry, who is Biden’s special presidential envoy for climate and has been engaging in climate diplomacy around the world this past year, will be attending the conference throughout its duration. McCarthy and Biden will attend the beginning of the conference to emphasize what the US is doing to lower its own greenhouse gas emissions and hit Biden’s Paris Climate Agreement goal of slashing emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030.

In addition to Kerry and McCarthy, the officials attending are: Secretary of State Tony Blinken; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm; EPA Administrator Michael Regan; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack; Interior Secretary Deb Haaland; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; USAID Administrator Samantha Power; NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad; WH Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Eric Lander; and Brian Deese, the National Economic Council director.

“In Glasgow, the United States will showcase President Biden’s whole-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis,” a White House official told CNN. “They will demonstrate the strength of the entire US government working in lock-step to reduce emissions and achieve our international climate commitments — and that the countries who take decisive action on climate will reap the economic and jobs benefits of the clean energy future.”

The White House official added that US leaders will encourage other countries to take decisive action to keep 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming within reach, especially as the world is currently on a trajectory to reach a “catastrophic” 2.7 degrees Celsius of global warming without significant emissions cuts.

Barack Obama is attending the big climate conference in Glasgow to try to convince the world that America is more about President Biden than former President Trump.

At least when it comes to fighting climate change. And at least when you judge the country as a whole and not just what’s going on in Washington, where the President’s climate agenda just took a major cut in Congress.

It’s an extremely unusual appearance by a former president at a world leaders event, but Obama aides and friends tell CNN the former President wants to help Biden win back world faith in American leadership on this issue, and get the global alliance back on track after four years of Trump.

Obama “has a global following,” said John Podesta, who worked on climate issues in the Obama White House and remains in touch with the former President. “Poll after poll show young people in particular are despairing of whether democracy can work, whether politicians are up to the task. They see Obama as inspirational and who tells it like it is.”

Obama’s presence at the COP26 summit began with suggestions from climate activists. But it really took shape in conversation with John Kerry, his former secretary of state and Biden’s special presidential envoy for climate, people familiar with the conversations tell CNN.

The White House was eager for the help, officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes conversations.

Still, Obama’s trip does not just reflect an acknowledgment in the Biden White House and beyond of how much international faith in America declined during the Trump years. It also reflects an awareness of how much more Obama connects with people globally — even now as a former president — than Biden does as the President actually in the Oval Office.

Even when Obama was at his most popular in America, he was always much more popular overseas, with his election seeming symbolic of the world’s superpower embracing internationalism and a new, forward-looking generation. Obama remains the inspiring figure around the globe, particularly with the younger people to which he will dedicate much of his time while in Scotland. In coordination with his own foundation and Columbia University’s Climate School, he will host a roundtable with youth activists — including many who are alumni of his global fellowship programs — and urge business leaders to accelerate their own clean energy investments.

A State Department official called Obama “among our strongest global advocates for action,” adding that he’ll be “a welcome voice,” in describing the rare tag-team approach for two Presidents.

Read more about Obama’s participation at the climate conference here.

Nearly 200 countries have pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions to stave off the worst consequences of our warming planet, but there is still a huge gap between what’s been promised and what scientists say is needed, according to a report by the UN Environment Programme.

Ahead of the UN’s COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, dozens of nations had not yet officially updated their pledges to reduce emissions, as they are supposed to do under the rules of the 2015 Paris Agreement. 

Of the G20 countries, which account for 80% of the world’s emissions, only six nations have formally increased their targets. The report also found that six G20 nations, including the United States, never met their older targets. The others were Canada, Australia, Brazil, South Korea and Mexico. 

The planet has already warmed by around 1.2 degrees, scientists say. The latest set of global climate pledges, according to the report, fall far short of what’s necessary to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — a critical threshold that scientists say the world should remain below.

The annual “emissions gap” report outlines the difference between what countries have pledged and what more needs to be done. To limit warming to 1.5 degrees, UNEP reports the world needs to slash current emissions in half in the next eight years. 

The report found that new and updated pledges on emissions will only cut an additional 7.5% by 2030, but a 55% cut is needed to meet the goal of containing warming to 1.5 degrees. A 30% reduction would be needed to stay below 2 degrees.

Under countries’ current fossil fuel emissions targets, it will continue to warm to 2.7 degrees, according to UNEP.

“Countries have stretched, but they’ve not stretched enough,” Inger Andersen, executive director of the UNEP, told CNN.

“Many of them sort of kick the can down the road, and we need to see not pledges anymore; we actually need to see real action.”