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.”

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.

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.

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."

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.  

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.