Cop26 news – live: Glasgow climate talks go into overtime as revised draft text due out

The world’s hopes of avoiding catastrophic climate change are hanging in the balance, as the deadline for a global deal at Cop26 passed without agreement and Boris Johnson warned: “We risk blowing it.”

With the Glasgow summit extended into Saturday, negotiators from 197 countries will attempt to finalise the text of an agreement, which it is hoped will keep the world on track to avoid 1.5C of warming.

Alok Sharma has shared a letter with heads of delegations and chairs of regional groups outlining the agenda for Saturday’s negotiations, saying a revised agreement draft will be made available by around 8am this morning.

The negotiations are likely to last into Saturday afternoon.

While the draft statement is currently the first ever at a UN summit of this type to mention fossil fuels, an earlier call to phase out coal and end fossil fuel subsidies appeared to have been significantly watered down on Friday, and there were fears over whether even this softened wording would survive into the final text.

Read More

Cop26: UK snubs pact to end oil and gas as small group of nations forge path away from fossil fuels

Don’t be fooled by Cop26 climate boasts – emissions need cutting to zero, not net zero, to avoid catastrophe

Cop26: Johnson’s hopes of breakthrough climate deal slipping away

Key Points

• Boris Johnson urges nations to accept draft text

• China: Nations should decide their own timetables for taking action

• Cop26 draft agreement released

• PM faces pressure to return to Glasgow and fight for a deal

• UK declines to join oil and gas alliance

Alok Sharma: Revised text of climate summit agreement to be made ‘available around 8am’

07:57 , Emily Atkinson

Alok Sharma has shared a letter with heads of delegations and chairs of regional groups outlining the agenda for Saturday’s negotiations, saying a revised agreement draft will be made available by around 8am this morning.

He warned that crafting the texts as passing them through the UNFCCC documentary systems “will take some time” as negotiations seek to strike the “right balances” in developing texts that have been “built collectively.”

According to the letter, talks look set to continue on into Saturday afternoon.

‘Time is running out in the race for our future', says Caroline Lucas

07:48 , Emily Atkinson

Caroline Lucas MP has accused world leaders of “failing to show the leadership and courage” that this moment in history demands as Cop26 negotiations spill over into another day.

In a video posted on Twitter last night, after the decision was taken to extend the Glasgow summit into Saturday, the Green Party leader expressed her “anger” that the draft agreement only expresses “deep regret that the money isn’t on the table for the poorest countries.”

She said: “Time is running out in the race for our future.

“This Glasgow Summit is our best hope of avoiding the worst of the climate emergency - our best hope of a justice reset, out best hope of keeping fossil fuels in the ground.

“I feel so angry that world leaders look as if they are going to fail us on this, angry that what we are seeing is a debate about whether the word request or urge is stronger, angry that the text produced overnight simply expresses deep regret that the money isn’t on the table for the poorest countries, angry that the richer countries are failing to pay their climate debt.

While there are still people negotiating, there is still “hope”, she continued: “There is still a chance. We know that every single fraction of a degree matters - every ton of fossil fuel matters.

“So, we will keep raising our voices and, with determination, those voices will get heard.”

The full video is available here:

Keeping temperature rises below 1.5C ‘a matter of life and death’, delegates warn

Friday 12 November 2021 22:19 , Rory Sullivan

On Friday, delegates once more rammed home the importance of limiting global temperature rises to below 1.5C.

The EU’s Frans Timmermans said “1.5 degrees is about avoiding a future for our children and grandchildren that is unliveable”, while Kenya’s representative said the number was “not just a statistic, it is a matter of life and death”.

As my colleagues have pointed out over the last few weeks, this conference has not

Emissions need cutting to zero, not net zero - Caroline Lucas

Friday 12 November 2021 22:00 , Rory Sullivan

#icymi

People should not be taken in by the rhetoric employed at the Cop26 summit, writes Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion.

In particular, she rails against the heavy-lifting done by the word “net”.

“For a start, nearly all net zero pledges are for mid-century or beyond – whether they come from governments or corporations. That is far too late to respond to an accelerating climate emergency,” she says.

Read more here:

Emissions need cutting to zero, not net zero, to avoid catastrophe | Caroline Lucas

Next year ‘has to be different’ to keep within 1.5C of warming, warns Miliband

Friday 12 November 2021 21:40 , Rory Sullivan

Whatever happens before the end of Cop26, the upcoming year “has to be different” from the last in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Ed Miliband has said.

Here’s the shadow energy secretary’s take on where we go after Cop26:

Negotiations expected to continue into tomorrow afternoon

Friday 12 November 2021 21:20 , Andy Gregory

Alok Sharma has said he envisages that negotiations will continue into Saturday afternoon.

The Cop26 president told delegates that revised documents for the agreements to be struck in Glasgow will be issued overnight, and be available by 8am.

A short informal plenary meeting will be held on Saturday morning, not before 10am, when Mr Sharma says he will introduce the documents, share his assessment of the state of the negotiations and set out proposed next steps.

He said he envisages a formal plenary in the afternoon to adopt the final decisions of Cop26 and close the session on Saturday.

Fossil fuel firms could ‘hold climate action to ransom’, campaigners warn

Friday 12 November 2021 21:05 , Andy Gregory

Fossil fuel companies could use trade agreements to “hold climate action to ransom”, potentially seeking trillions of pounds in compensation from governments that enact policies harming their revenues, campaigners have warned.

Trade agreements, such as Nafta and the Energy Charter Treaty, include investor arbitration clauses which allow companies to sue governments, according to Agence-France Presse, which reports that the tribunal mechanism has already seen billions handed to heavy industry.

These corporate courts, “the global trade system's dirty little secret”, could “make a mockery” of pledges agreed in Glasgow, Global Justice Now’s trade campaigner Jean Blaylock told the news agency.

“We're seeing the fossil fuel sector use investor-state dispute settlement to hold climate action to ransom,” she said. “These companies have made unfathomable profits from fuelling the climate crisis, we cannot let them demand even bigger pay-outs.”

Friday 12 November 2021 20:50 , Andy Gregory

The UK presidency is holding out hope for a formal request in the final agreement for countries to come back next year at the Cop27 conference in Egypt with enhanced pledges on carbon emissions, our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports.

This would mark a significant step up in the so-called “ratchet” agreed at Paris, which required new pledges only every five years, and reflects growing concern that action is not coming fast enough in what has been called “the crucial decade” to 2030.

Scotland could seek to be ‘friend’ of Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance

Friday 12 November 2021 20:32 , Andy Gregory

Scotland could look to become a “friend” of the newly-formed alliance of countries looking to phase out fossil fuels, Nicola Sturgeon has said – but suggested that North Sea oil and gas emissions did not count towards Scotland’s targets as the responsibility is reserved.

The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance was launched by Denmark and Costa Rica on Wednesday to halt new drilling, with France, Greenland, Ireland, Sweden, Wales and the Canadian province of Quebec signing up as founding members. Portugal, California and New Zealand are associate members, while Italy is supporting it as a “friend”.

Speaking to journalists, Scotland’s first minister said: “So we would, I think become a ‘friend of’ in the first instance, and then probably move potentially into different categories of membership. I wrote to the Beyond Oil and Gas organisation yesterday, indicating we were making that assessment.”

She continued: “I don't have any doubt in my mind that we've got a big job of work to do to get away from oil and gas as quickly as possible. But we have to do that in a way that doesn't make us more dependent on importing oil and gas, that would be nonsensical.

“And crucially, that doesn't leave the 100,000 people working in that sector on the scrap heap.”

Friday 12 November 2021 20:15 , Andy Gregory

Greenpeace appear to have capitalised on the giant globe hanging in the conference centre as a chance to illustrate concerns about carbon offsetting.

Anxiety and frustration as climate talks enter extra time

Friday 12 November 2021 20:03 , Andy Gregory

On the ground at the conference centre, the prevailing mood is confusion and frustration, The Independent’s climate correspondent Daisy Dunne reports.

Some delegates are anxiously watching screens awaiting further updates, while others have called it a day and headed off into the city.

But seasoned Cop attendees are not surprised. The last UN climate conference to finish on schedule was Cop12 in Nairobi, which took place 15 years ago. And Cop25 in Madrid, the last summit before Glasgow, was the longest in the history of the talks.

It is not yet clear how long talks in Glasgow could go on for.

Anxiety and frustration as Cop26 climate talks enter extra time in Glasgow

‘Don’t fail,’ Nicola Sturgeon tells negotiators

Friday 12 November 2021 19:49 , Andy Gregory

Nicola Sturgeon has said she believes the talks are “inching forward in a positive direction” and feels “slightly more optimistic” than earlier today.

Asked what her message would be to the negotiators who were locked in talks attempting to reach an agreement, Scotland’s first minister said: “Don’t fail. Don’t come out of the negotiating room not being able to look the next generation in the eye.

“With political leadership, there is no excuse for not coming out of this summit – not with climate change resolved, that was never going to happen – but with a clear pathway that means 1.5 degrees is alive as a goal.

“That means serious emissions reductions in this decade and real action on finance because unless we have that you would not meet the 1.5 goal.

“And on loss and damage, a recognition that the rich, industrialised, developed world caused climate change and we have a duty and an obligation to provide financial help to those countries that are suffering a lot from it right now.

“That’s what a good deal looks like and it’s within reach. So to the leaders, I would say: stay in that room until you get it and then come out and then let’s all make sure we turn it into action.”

Boris Johnson agreed that ‘more ambitious pledges on emissions’ still needed, No 10 says

Friday 12 November 2021 19:35 , Andy Gregory

In a conversation earlier today, Boris Johnson and the Italian prime minister agreed there needed to be “more ambitious pledges on emissions reductions” in Glasgow, Downing Street has said – hours after the PM made clear there was little prospect of improving on the draft text published this morning.

“The prime minister spoke to Mario Draghi, prime minister of Italy, this afternoon,” a No 10 spokeswoman said. “As partners in the Cop26 presidency, they discussed how the UK and Italy are working together to drive progress in the negotiations.

“The leaders agreed that we need to see progress on finance, particularly on the $100bn target, and more ambitious pledges on emissions reductions.

“They said they would continue working with their teams and with other leaders to secure a positive outcome in the critical final hours of negotiations in Glasgow.”

Is toxic masculinity the reason there are so many climate-hesitant men?

Friday 12 November 2021 19:14 , Andy Gregory

Around half of the world’s population needs to do more to tackle the climate crisis, according to a new study, which said that men in particular need to be more willing to change their habits to become eco-friendly.

And another study by the same think-tank, Global Future, found that significantly more women (40 per cent) than men (27 per cent) reported changing the way they buy and eat food in order to help fight climate change – with similar results when asked about buying clothes.

But what is behind men’s reluctance to alter their everyday habits in order to become part of climate action? And more importantly, what can be done to encourage them to be more proactive in climate justice?

My colleague Kate Ng investigates:

Is toxic masculinity the reason there are so many climate-hesitant men?

Carbon markets leave indigenous people exposed, rights groups warn

Friday 12 November 2021 19:02 , Andy Gregory

One unresolved part of the Paris Agreement is around global carbon trading – but human rights and environmental groups are warning that a lack of agreement on carbon markets is preferable to a deal which lacks protections for indigenous people reliant on forests for survival.

Many people, and environmental and human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth, oppose the trading of offsets based on the carbon dioxide absorbed by trees, to compensate for emissions elsewhere.

“I certainly think that not having an agreement here [on carbon markets] is a better outcome and more of a win than pushing through an agreement that doesn't properly ensure protection for human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples,” Erika Lennon, a senior attorney at the Centre for International Environmental Law, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Earlier in the day, during a “People's Plenary”, Ta'Kaiya Blaney, a 19-year-old member of Canada's Tla'Amin First Nation, denounced the summit as a “an illusion constructed to salvage capitalist economies rooted in resource extraction and colonialism”.

“I didn't come here to fix the agenda, I came here to disrupt it,” she said to applause and cheers. “Colonialism is what caused climate change and I am not going to my coloniser for solutions. We reject colonial solutions for climate change.”

Deal hangs in balance as climate summit extended beyond deadline for agreement

Friday 12 November 2021 18:34 , Andy Gregory

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has the following report after negotiators missed the 6pm deadline to secure a deal in Glasgow.

Negotiators from 197 countries appear set to talk into the night in the hope of securing agreement, with UK officials fearful that even the latest draft’s softened wording on fossil fuels may not survive into the final text, as polluting countries seek to avoid direction on how they should achieve the emission reductions they have promised.

Beijing and Riyadh were also resisting new requirements on transparency around the scale of emissions and the measures being taken to rein them in.

And there were continued differences over the implementation of the final element of the 2015 Paris Accord still to be formally signed off – the so-called Article 6 mechanism for carbon trading.

Deal hangs in balance as Cop26 climate summit extended beyond deadline for agreement

Russia calls on countries not to ‘drag down’ negotiations

Friday 12 November 2021 18:12 , Andy Gregory

Speaking at the summit’s “stock take” meeting earlier today, Russia’s representative signalled that Moscow has no major concerns with the cover agreement, and urged other countries not to “drag down” the negotiations.

The talks must show “specific tangible results” to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the Russian envoy said, adding: “We need to show a clear signal on the further steps we are intending to undertake jointly to further climate agenda.”

He also called for further detail on the mechanism to set up carbon trading between countries – a key element of the Paris Agreement which successive Cops have failed to deliver upon.

Deadline passes without a deal

Friday 12 November 2021 18:08 , Chris Baynes

The 6pm deadline for talks at Cop26 to finish has now passed without a deal being announced.

Cop26 Alok Sharma had already indicated negotiations would overshoot that time with talks set to continue into the evening, and possibly the weekend.

Madrid’s Cop25 in 2019 dragged on two two days longer than planned, with talks wrapping up at Sunday lunchtime.

Protesters march through Cop26 venue

Friday 12 November 2021 17:52 , Andy Gregory

Earlier today, hundreds of activists marched through the Cop26 venue, leaving a gathering in one of the main halls to join a demonstration outside.

The marchers sang and chanted as they made their way through the summit’s blue zone, with a group of indigenous activists leading the procession.

They carried banners and red ribbons to represent the red lines crossed by negotiators. Two people were led away by police after they tried to scale the fence outside the venue.

Friday 12 November 2021 17:35 , Andy Gregory

Alok Sharma has said he hopes nations will adopt texts later tonight.

“My intention is to publish clean versions of relevant texts later today for parties careful consideration and, ultimately, I hope adoption tonight,” the Cop26 president said.

Exclusive: Hundreds of academics denounce Glasgow summit as ‘failure’ and call for ‘real green revolution’

Friday 12 November 2021 17:17 , Andy Gregory

More than 200 academics have signed an open letter branding the summit a “failure” in which corporate interests are over-represented, our environment correspondent Harry Cockburn reports.

Co-ordinated by former Extinction Rebellion strategist Professor Rupert Read, of the University of East Anglia, along with Professor Jem Bendell of the University of Cumbria and Dr Malika Virah-Sawmy of IAAS-Potsdam, the letter claims that during the summit, “business commitments distracted from the economic policies necessary to reduce atmospheric carbon and prepare for worsening disruption”.

It calls for a “real green revolution” to halt greenhouse gas emissions, regenerate nature, and adapt to the realities of the worsening climate crisis.

Hundreds of academics brand Cop26 a ‘failure’ and call for ‘real green revolution’

What is in the latest draft of the Glasgow climate change agreement?

Friday 12 November 2021 16:58 , Andy Gregory

What does the draft text that Boris Johnson has urged nations at Cop26 to sign actually contain? Our political editor Andrew Woodock has more details on the text:

• It calls on the near-200 countries represented at Glasgow to report back on progress towards more ambitious action at next year’s Cop27 summit in Egypt. However, there is no legal requirement on them to act. Instead, they are “requested”to do so, which UN lawyers regard as being stronger than being “urged”, as an earlier draft on Wednesday did.

• Crucially, the new draft maintains a commitment on fossil fuel use, despite efforts by oil and gas producing countries like Saudi Arabia to remove it from the text. However there are concerns that the promise in an earlier version to “accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuel” has been watered down. It now includes a commitment to accelerate “the phase-out of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels”.

Find out more here:

What is in the latest draft of the Cop26 climate change agreement?

Brexit ‘may slow UK’s ability to tackle climate change’

Friday 12 November 2021 16:36 , Andy Gregory

My colleague Emily Atkinson has more on Holyrood’s net-zero secretary’s comments that Brexit could slow the UK’s ability to tackle climate change by reducing access to labour.

“I’ve heard over and over again here at this summit about the need for pace and that this is a decisive decade; we heard it from the World Leaders Summit last week as well,” Michael Matheson said.

“Key to that is not just the deployment of technology, it’s also having the skills to manufacture, install and maintain that technology. We need to start to recognise that limited access to the right labour markets could compromise our ability to move at the pace at which we need to tackle climate change.”

Read more details here:

Friday 12 November 2021 16:05 , Andy Gregory

As guesses abound as to when the final deal could be agreed, a new Twitter account has emerged, named: “Has Cop26 finished yet?”

With a tagline of “asking the question everyone wants answered” and a handle reading “MakeCopStop”, the account’s first and so far only tweet is somewhat blunt:

‘We risk blowing it’: Boris Johnson urges world leaders to sign off on draft deal

Friday 12 November 2021 15:55 , Andy Gregory

Boris Johnson has warned that “we risk blowing it” on climate if countries do not agree to the draft deal on the table in Glasgow.

Speaking some 435 miles away during a visit to a vaccination centre in Sidcup, the prime minister said: “What everybody needs to do now is recognise that we really are in the final furlong, and it’s in the final furlong where the horses change places.

“What needs to happen now is that people need to understand that the deal that’s on the table - the so-called cover decision - that is the text.

“We either find a way of agreeing it or I’m afraid we risk blowing it. That’s that’s the reality.”

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports that his comments are a clear indication that he has given up hope of achieving any further improvements on a text which has been criticised by climate activists as too weak. Read more details here:

‘We risk blowing it’ on climate change, Boris Johnson warns as Cop26 summit nears end

Countries should decide for themselves when to implement commitments, China says

Friday 12 November 2021 15:29 , Andy Gregory

Countries should decide on their own timetable for implementing climate commitments, China’s negotiator has said.

Stressing that the text of the Glasgow deal should should be “appropriate and practical”, Zhao Yingmin said: “The current text has already given high importance to the urgency of the climate crisis and also had practical arrangements for how to take further actions to close the gap and initial reduction goals.

“But I think these arrangements should be based on the framework and provisions of the Paris Agreement to allow parties space and time in implementing their [nationally determined contributions], and also to leverage the global stocktaking mechanism to review global progress, and let the parties decide on their own the roadmap and timetable for their national policies and actions.”

The negotiator suggested the draft text published today has “some improvements” and provides a good basis for discussion, but said China still thinks the text needs to be stronger on funding commitments for how to help developing nations adapt to climate change.

“We still see a lack of specific and detailed arrangements and substantial content on the implementation means for adaptation and finance, particularly on global adaptation goals and how to deliver on the $100bn climate finance that should be further strengthened.”

Calling for the agreement to “adhere to the goals, principles and mandates of the Paris Agreement” in aiming for temperature rises of well below 2C, he added: “To keep 1.5 degrees within range, it requires all the parties to conduct actions to enhance co-operation under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.”

He concluded: “China is willing to support the UK presidency in agreeing on an outcome that is science-based but also rules-based, that has balanced elements of mitigation, adaptation and finance and has appropriate wording.”

Lithuanian delegate finds flight home to be most eco-friendly option

Friday 12 November 2021 15:21 , Andy Gregory

In an attempt to minimise his environmental impact, Marijus Gailius’ journey from Vilnius to the Glasgow involved car-sharing, five buses, a train and a ferry to cover the 2,500km distance.

But after crunching the numbers, the communications assistant for Lithuania’s climate ministry will be returning to Lithuania by plane.

Writing for local news site 15min, the delegate explained how he had calculated an estimate of his carbon emissions during the self-funded journey – and found them to be less than flying by plane.

“No matter how hard we try to save the planet, we will not stop the climate crisis with individual efforts,” he wrote. “Let’s not fool ourselves, as long as it is possible to choose a cheap flight, people will choose it.

“As my experiment has shown, behaving differently is not only practical but also... pointless. The responsibility for tackling the climate crisis lies not with consumers, but with politicians.”

Deal will represent ‘pretty glacial progress’, Ed Miliband says

Friday 12 November 2021 14:48 , Andy Gregory

The Glasgow talks will secure a deal which “will represent modest progress”, Ed Miliband has suggested, warning that “on climate modest progress isn't enough”.

“We're not where we need to be in the final throes of this,” the shadow business secretary said.

“We know what the aim was, which is to halve global emissions this decade, we weren't going to get all the way there, but we've made, I'm afraid, pretty glacial progress.”

He said the world would have to “resit its climate exam next year” at Cop27 talks in Egypt, and the deal would set what the terms of the resit were.

Mr Miliband said he wanted to see the strongest possible language to push countries to ramp up action and more focus on the 1.5C goal, and said the language on fossil fuels must be protected and strengthened.

Fossil fuel subsidies are ‘insanity’, US climate envoy says

Friday 12 November 2021 14:30 , Andy Gregory

The world cannot abandon a target to limit global warming to 1.5C, the United States climate envoy has said, describing spending money on fossil fuel subsidies as "insanity".

“Those subsidies have to go. We're the largest oil and gas producer in the world and we have some of those subsidies and President Biden has put in legislation to get rid of them,” John Kerry said.

“We are struggling each year to find money, but $2.5trn in the last five or six years went into subsidies for fossil fuel. That's the definition of insanity. We’re allowing to feed the very problem we're here to try to cure. It doesn't make sense.”

He warned that it was “imperative” that text on efforts to keep to 1.5C of warming is preserved in Glasgow’s deal, adding: “We cannot get weaker, it can't go backwards from here. It includes critical references to 1.5 because of the science.”

Cop26 president claims people sometimes describe him as ‘no drama Sharma'

Friday 12 November 2021 14:07 , Andy Gregory

In one of the more cringeworthy moments of the summit thus far, the Cop26 president has claimed that people sometimes describe him as “no drama Sharma”.

My colleague Cal Byrne reports that the Tory minister was answering a question about whether he was trying to stir up some drama in order to move the negotiations along, and seemed to be channeling his inner Barack Obama, who was given the nickname “no drama Obama” for his ability to remain cool under pressure.

Brexit could ‘compromise’ UK’s ability to tackle climate change, Holyrood minister warns

Friday 12 November 2021 13:52 , Andy Gregory

By limiting access to workers, Brexit could “compromise” the UK’s ability to tackle climate change at the pace that is required, Scotland’s net-zero secretary has warned.

Speaking at a British and Irish Council event, Michael Matheson said that the renewable energy sector was starting to express concern about the impact leaving the EU was having on access to the labour market.

“An issue across the whole of the UK and Ireland that we need to understand is that Brexit is having an impact that could start to compromise our ability to move at the pace we need to in order to tackle climate change,” he said.

“I’ve heard over and over again here at this summit about the need for pace and that this is a decisive decade; we heard it from the World Leaders Summit last week as well.

“Key to that is not just the deployment of technology, it’s also having the skills to manufacture, install and maintain that technology. We need to start to recognise that limited access to the right labour markets could compromise our ability to move at the pace at which we need to tackle climate change.”

‘This is personal, it’s not about politics’ – EU

Friday 12 November 2021 13:46 , Andy Gregory

European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans has just given an impassioned plea for more action to keep hopes of 1.5C of global heating alive by the end of Cop26, Daisy Dunne reports.

“This is personal, it’s not about politics,” he said after telling delegates that the decisions made in Glasgow today would impact the life of his one-year-old grandson.

“We need to make sure major emitters reduce their emissions so we can keep 1.5C alive,” he said to a round of applause.

Targets agreed in Glasgow will be “utterly meaningless” unless countries agree on “strong action” to phase out coal and a “clear signal” to end fossil fuel subsidies, he added.

‘This is our collective moment in history,’ Sharma says on final day of summit

Friday 12 November 2021 13:26 , Andy Gregory

A fresh call for all countries to work together to reach a final Cop26 agreement by the end of the day has just been issued by Cop26 president Alok Sharma, our climate correspondent Daisy Dunne reports.

“This is our collective moment in history,” he told delegates. “This is our chance to forge a cleaner, healthier, more prosperous world. This is our time to deliver on the high ambition set by leaders at the start of the summit. We must rise to the occasion.”

He added that it was still his “sincere intention” to get a final agreement over the line by the end of the day today, amid scepticism on the ground that proceedings will finish on time.

“A small number of key issues remain which require our urgent collective attention,” he said, adding that he needed countries to come forward with “pragmatic and workable” solutions.

“We need [a] final injection of that can-do spirit to get our shared endeavour over the line,” he said.

Friday 12 November 2021 13:23 , Andy Gregory

You can watch live here as Alok Sharma holds an internal stocktaking, while leaders seek to hammer out an agreement in the final day of the conference.

Watch live as Cop26 president Alok Sharma leads climate discussion

‘We are at a crossroads’ says leading meteorologist

Friday 12 November 2021 12:32 , Thomas Kingsley

Leading meteorologist and creator of the Warming Stripes graphic of global warming has warned that developing nations are most at risk if the world continues on its current climate path.

‘We will witness total destabilisation of life as we know it if 2.4C warming reached’ activist says

Friday 12 November 2021 12:18 , Thomas Kingsley

Mary Robinson, Chair of The Elders independent group of global leaders, says if global temperatures rise by 2.4C people under 30 will witness the total destabilisation of life as we know it.

“It would mean that if you’re younger than 60, it’s likely you’ll witness the total destabilisation of life as we know it,” she told Sky News. She added: “This would include crop failures, fracturing economies, and hundreds of millions of people fleeing uninhabitable regions.

“If you’re under 30 years old, then science tells you that you’re guaranteed to have that,” Ms Robinson said.

'Is this how our story is due to end?’

Friday 12 November 2021 11:52 , Thomas Kingsley

Rewind to the start of Cop26 where Sir David Attenborough warned world leaders about the impacts of the climate crisis and the importance of not allowing global warming to rise above 1.5C.

The summit is now reaching a close with the latest draft statement receiving backlash for watering down prospects to curb fossil fuel use.

Why isn’t excess food higher on Cop26 agenda?

Friday 12 November 2021 11:11 , Thomas Kingsley

In the UK, food waste accounts for between 6% and 7% of total greenhouse gas emissions, with an estimated 2m tonnes of perfectly edible food needlessly wasted

Food charity FareShare is calling on politicians, food producers and consumers to tackle food waste if they are serious about confronting climate change.

If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of carbon globally, yet the issue has been largely ignored in climate discussions at Cop26, according to food charity FareShare.

Our reporter Sally Webb has the full report below:

Wasted opportunity: Why isn’t excess food higher on Cop26 agenda?

Activists pose as fire-fighting world leaders

Friday 12 November 2021 10:59 , Thomas Kingsley

Pictures have circulated on social media of Oxfam campaigners activists posing as fire-fighting world leaders who are watching the world burn.

The activists have gathered outside the summit in Glasgow.

Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam international executive director, said: “Years from now, how do today’s biggest emitters want to be remembered? As those who let arsonists torch the planet? Or as those who led us to a world of safety and survival?

“The next few hours can and must change that. We need an outcome that commits countries to coming back next year with stronger emission reduction targets to keep 1.5 degrees alive. It is not good enough to just acknowledge loss and damage - it’s overdue and has to be addressed.”

Activists deflate tyres on 4x4 cars in Glasgow and accuse drivers of ‘climate violation’

Friday 12 November 2021 10:30 , Thomas Kingsley

Tyres on scores of vehicles parked in Glasgow have been deflated by climate activists as the Cop26 summit reaches its end.

Fake parking infringement notices that branded the four-wheel-drive cars a “climate violation” have been left on about 60 vehicles in the city’s West End district.

Pharmacist Jamie MacConnacher discovered the two front tyres of his Land Rover had been deflated on Thursday morning.

“I don’t think targeting individuals that have these vehicles is the right way to do it. They don’t know what the reason for somebody having that car is,” he told BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime programme.

Our reporter Lamiat Sabin has the full story:

Climate activists deflate tyres on ‘luxury’ cars parked in Glasgow

‘Unexpected’ US-China climate pact brings badly needed optimism as Glasgow talks near end

Friday 12 November 2021 10:10 , Thomas Kingsley

As the climate summit comes to a close and world leaders warn of the challenge of meeting an agreement in time, some positive news has come out of the summit.

The US and China have made a joint declaration at the Cop26 summit to accelerate measures in the 2020s to tackle the climate crisis.

The world’s two largest polluters have committed to a working group for this decade, saying they will “meet regularly” and focus on “concrete actions”.

Our environment correspondent Harry Cockburn has full analysis below:

‘Unexpected’ US-China climate pact brings badly needed optimism to close of Cop26

ICYMI: Canadian becomes world’s first patient to be diagnosed as suffering from ‘climate change’

Friday 12 November 2021 09:55 , Thomas Kingsley

A Canadian facing breathing issues was diagnosed as possibly the first patient in the world suffering from “climate change,” as doctors said heatwaves and poor air quality were responsible for her condition.

Dr Kyle Merritt, responsible for the diagnosis of the senior citizen from Nelson in British Columbia who suffered from asthma, said this was the first time in a decade that he wrote climate change as a cause of suffering.

Our reporter Stuti Mishra has the full story below:

Canadian diagnosed as suffering from ‘climate change’

1.5C target is in ‘mortal peril’ warns shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband

Friday 12 November 2021 09:40 , Thomas Kingsley

Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband said he welcomes the draft text strengthening in some areas, but warned the 1.5C target is in “mortal peril”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Miliband said, when it comes to halving global emissions this decade and limiting global warming to 1.5C, “the unfortunate reality is that we are miles off where we need to be”.

“I’m afraid we’re very much in the territory of living to fight another day. And that’s what this text is about,” he said.

“It’s about what happens when we come back next year and in future years. It’s about delivering on some of the things that haven’t been delivered, like the £100 billion of finance. So in that context there has been some strengthening that I welcome.”

Facebook accused of profiting from misinformation about climate crisis

Friday 12 November 2021 09:25 , Thomas Kingsley

A new report claims Facebook is profiting from fake news about the climate emergency at the same time that thousands are at the Cop26 summit to discuss urgent action to protect the planet.

Campaign groups Stop Funding Heat and The Real Facebook Oversight Board said that Facebook is accepting paid-for adverts on the social network that are pushing fake news about climate change and facilitating the spread of misinformation.

These posts, the campaign groups claim, are receiving more than a million daily views of this kind of content.

Our reporter Hebe Campbell has the full story below:

Facebook accused of profiting from misinformation about climate crisis

Draft text falls short of driving 1.5C, top climate economist says

Friday 12 November 2021 09:12 , Thomas Kingsley

Draft text for a possible deal at Glasgow falls short of driving to 1.5C, but is “stronger” than previous texts, a top economist on climate change has said.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lord Nicholas Stern, who led the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, said of the draft text: “I do think this language is more specific and more purposive, and a greater sense of urgency than before.

“We have to capitalise on that and move very strongly to put in place a new system during the coming year, which I hope the Egyptian presidency for Cop27 a year from now will be able to turn into real commitments.”

Asked if it meets or falls short of his hopes for Glasgow, he said: “It falls short of what one would hope for in the sense of really driving to 1.5C and tackling clean development.”

What is in the latest draft of the Glasgow climate change agreement?

Friday 12 November 2021 08:56 , Thomas Kingsley

The United Nations Cop26 summit in Glasgow is seen as humanity’s last best chance of reining in global warming to below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels - viewed by experts as essential to avoid catastrophic climate change.

But what is in the latest draft agreement and what will it mean for the nations involved?

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock answers those questions and more in the full story below:

What is in the latest draft of the Cop26 climate change agreement?

ICYMI: UK snubs pact to end oil and gas as small group of nations forge path away from fossil fuels

Friday 12 November 2021 08:50 , Thomas Kingsley

Cop26 host the UK has declined to join an international alliance aiming to end new oil and gas projects, leaving a small group of other countries led by Costa Rica and Denmark to forge a path away from fossil fuels.

France, Greenland, Ireland and Sweden were among around a dozen nations and regions to join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance at the Cop26 summit on Thursday.

Our climate correspondent Daisy Dunne has the full story below:

UK snubs pact to end oil and gas as other nations forge path away from fossil fuels

Latest draft agreement weaker on need to phase out fossil fuels as summit enters final day

Friday 12 November 2021 08:42 , Thomas Kingsley

A new draft of the final deal that could emerge from the Cop26 climate summit appears to have watered down its call to curb fossil fuels, but did not remove all mention of the need for their phase out as some watchers had feared.

The first draft of the potential Glasgow pact released on Wednesday called for countries “to accelerate the phasing-out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels”.

Our correspondents Daisy Dunne and Louise Boyle have the full story below:

Latest Cop26 draft agreement weaker on need to phase out fossil fuels

Draft deal ‘inching forward’ on climate change, Nicola Sturgeon says

Friday 12 November 2021 08:40 , Thomas Kingsley

Nicola Sturgeon said she has not had a chance to adequately absorb the new draft of the Cop26 deal but said it was “inching forward” on addressing climate change.

Scotland’s First Minister said there has been some “incremental progress”, telling Sky News: “If I was a young person looking into this summit right now I would say it’s not good enough.

“There may have been inches forward in this latest draft but there’s still time to get it even further forward and to really make the Glasgow Agreement one that lives up to the urgency of the emergency we face.”

She added: “In these final hours, the Prime Minister if necessary should come back here and drive this deal over the line.”

‘Hot air in Glasgow means it’s time for radical leadership’: Read full letter signed by more than 200 academic

Friday 12 November 2021 08:35 , Thomas Kingsley

Hundreds of scholars have come together to pen a letter grieving the challenges of climate change and calling on world leaders to take action. The letter reads:

Read the full letter below

Letter: ‘Hot air from Glasgow means it’s time for radical leadership’

Draft agreement ‘not good enough’ says Greenpeace

Friday 12 November 2021 08:34 , Thomas Kingsley

The executive director of Greenpeace has called the newly released draft text a plan that will not solve the climate crisis.

Jennifer Morgan wrote on Twitter: “The new draft final decision text published today is not a plan to solve the climate crisis, it’s an agreement that we’ll all cross our fingers and hope for the best. It’s a polite request that countries maybe, possibly, do more next year. That’s not good enough.”

She called on negotiators to not leave the summit until they reach an agreement that “meets the moment.”

Hundreds of academics denounce Glasgow summit as ‘failure’ and call for ‘real green revolution’

Friday 12 November 2021 08:20 , Thomas Kingsley

Over 200 academics have signed an open letter branding the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow a “failure” and calling for a “real green revolution” to halt greenhouse gas emissions, regenerate nature, and adapt to the realities of the worsening climate crisis.

Co-ordinated by former Extinction Rebellion strategist Professor Rupert Read, of the University of East Anglia, along with Professor Jem Bendell of the University of Cumbria and Dr Malika Virah-Sawmy of IAAS-Potsdam, the letter claims that during the summit, “business commitments distracted from the economic policies necessary to reduce atmospheric carbon and prepare for worsening disruption”.

Our environment correspondent Harry Cockburn has the exclusive below:

Hundreds of academics brand Cop26 a ‘failure’ and call for ‘real green revolution’

The first Cop26 draft statement has been released

Friday 12 November 2021 08:04 , Thomas Kingsley

The first Cop26 draft statement has been released outlining the major decisions and resolutions that have come out of the summit.

The first draft of the “cover decision” called for countries “to accelerate the phasing-out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels”.

In a new draft produced on Friday morning, that has changed to calling on countries to accelerate the shift to clean energy systems, “including by rapidly scaling up clean power generation and accelerating the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels”.

The inclusion of a reference to fossil fuels was a first for a UN decision document of this type, but was expected to get fierce pushback from some countries.

Nations must ‘redouble efforts’ in final hours of Cop26, says Sadiq Khan

Friday 12 November 2021 07:46 , Thomas Kingsley

Countries must “redouble their efforts” in the final hours of the Cop26 climate summit to attempt to keep hopes alive of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, Sadiq Khan has said.

Speaking to The Independent in Glasgow, the mayor of London said countries must commit to renewing their climate promises more often to get the momentum needed to meet the 1.5C aspiration of the Paris Agreement.

He added that he had been frustrated to see nations prioritising “targets over action” and said that the era of climate deniers had been replaced by one of “climate delayers”.

Our climate correspondent Daisy Dunne has the full exclusive below:

Nations must ‘redouble their efforts’ in final hours of Cop26, says Sadiq Khan

Welcome

Friday 12 November 2021 07:40 , Thomas Kingsley

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. As talks reach the final day at the summit, we bring you the latest updates.