Meeting at the climate summit in Glasgow, world leaders signed new agreements Tuesday to end deforestation and reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Now, conference moves into a more grueling phase.
Over the next week and a half, with heads of state and government gone, diplomats will try to agree on deeper greenhouse gas reductions and figure out how to deliver on a $100 billion annual promise still unmet more than a decade ago. Help poor countries move away from fossil fuels and prepare for the effects of climate change by 2020.
Most importantly, vulnerable countries are putting pressure on major emitting countries to agree to increase climate targets each year to prevent global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit compared to pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Get live updates from COP26
Our team in Glasgow will cover the negotiations, protests and more, and you can follow up in real time with our live briefings. Here is the Wednesday issue. You can also stay updated on our site. climate and environment page.
Video
Welcome to Glasgow: When world leaders reach the summit, protesters were waiting to greet them.
‘No More Flange, Flange’: Greta Thunberg joins the demonstrators Outside the United Nations climate conference and accusing political leaders of inaction in tackling the climate crisis.
From the opinion section
$3.5 trillion is too little: What we’re not spending now to fight climate change it cost us much more then, ProPublica’s environmental correspondent Abrahm Lustgarten writes in a guest article.
The road to climate recovery: information technology passes through our forests, writes John Reid, senior economist with the nonprofit group Nia Tero, and Thomas E. Lovejoy, biologist and senior fellow of the United Nations Foundation.
Hello from Glasgow, where I am reporting on the United Nations climate summit with my Times colleagues Somini Sengupta, Brad Plumer and our editors.
This is the 26th time the UN has tried to encourage governments to reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. Each meeting had its own personality. I went to 10 of them, this time I would describe the mood as much more gloomy than in previous years.
Six years ago, world leaders, diplomats and activists were euphoric when nearly 200 countries reached an important climate agreement in the Paris suburb of Le Bourget. Under the Paris Agreement, each country collectively pledged to reduce emissions to keep global warming “well below” an increase of 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit compared to pre-industrial levels.
Well, Earth’s global surface temperature has already increased by about 1.1 degrees Celsius compared to the average before 1900. So there is pressure in Glasgow for countries to do much more to reduce emissions and to do so before the end of this decade. .
These talks also feel less energetic because environmental groups are being kept out of the main negotiation halls, largely due to coronavirus restrictions.
You can understand the scene inside the main venue from this short film. behind the scenes virtual tour.
If you don’t receive Climate Fwd: in your inbox can register here
We would love your feedback on the newsletter. We read every message and reply to many! Please email your thoughts and suggestions. climate team@nytimes.com.