COP26 climate summit

Singapore announces it aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, giving a firm date for the first time, and will look at using hydrogen as a major power source.

The city-state targets for carbon emissions to peak in 2030 at 60 million tonnes, a reduction of five million tonnes from the previous goal, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said.

The Southeast Asian nation also has plans to look at developing low carbon hydrogen as a major power supply in the long term. — AFP

Countries have proposed to hold an extra biodiversity meeting in Nairobi in June as talks in Geneva tasked with saving nature entered their final day Tuesday without an agreement.

In a document uploaded on the conference website, dated Monday, countries suggest holding a new meeting in the Kenyan capital between June 21 and 26 to "continue negotiations" on the document and other issues. 

The decision is subject to official approval by the Geneva meeting before it wraps up later Tuesday. — AFP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday hails a global accord to speed up action against climate change as "truly historic" and "the beginning of the end for coal power".

But he says his "delight at this progress" at the UN COP26 summit in Glasgow was "tinged with disappointment" because of a failure to secure the agreement of all countries to phase out hydrocarbons.

"Those for whom climate change is already a matter of life and death, who can only stand by as their islands are submerged, their farmland turned to desert, their homes battered by storms, they demanded a high level of ambition from this summit," says Johnson. — AFP

A UN climate summit text on Saturday urges nations to accelerate the phase-out of unfiltered coal and "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies, after large emitters tried to remove the mention of polluting fuels. 

The text, which comes after two weeks of frantic negotiations at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, omitted any reference to specific finance for "loss and damage" -- the mounting cost of global heating so far -- which has been a key demand of poorer nations.

The mention on Saturday of fossil fuels was weaker than a previous draft, which called on countries to "accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels". — AFP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeals to richer countries to stump up more money to secure a breakthrough, exposing a central fault line at the marathon talks. 

Developing economies led by India have balked at demands to do more to curb emissions without promised financial support to transition away from fossil fuels, and to adapt to the accelerating impacts of climate change. — AFP

A draft final statement of the COP26 summit Friday calls for nations to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, as two weeks of crunch climate negotiations approach their conclusion. 

A conference draft decision published on the UN Climate Change website urged countries to accelerate "the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels".

It was a rare mention of the fuels driving global heating in more than two decades of UN-led climate negotiations. — AFP

Promises by governments to cut carbon emissions "ring hollow" as long as they continue to funnel trillions of investment to oil, gas and coal projects, UN chief Antonio Guterres says Thursday.

"The announcements here in Glasgow are encouraging -– but they are far from enough," he tells the COP26 climate summit.

"Promises ring hollow when the fossil fuels industry still receives trillions in subsidies." — AFP

A handful of nations commit to phasing out oil and gas production at the COP26 summit Thursday, in what organisers Denmark and Costa Rica hope will inspire a global movement towards ending fossil fuels.

The coalition, which includes a dozen countries, was announced as nations tussle over a range of issues in the final stages of the UN climate talks in Glasgow. 

The UN summit aims to implement the Paris Agreement, which has a target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

To do that, scientists say the use of oil and gas must be radically slashed. — AFP

China and the United States vow to work together to accelerate climate action this decade, separately announcing a surprise pact on global warming, which is already causing disasters across the world.

The joint declaration came as the crunch COP26 summit in Glasgow entered its pivotal final days, with negotiators wrestling over ways to limit global warming to 1.5-2 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels.

"This document contains strong statements about the alarming science, the emissions gap, and the urgent need to accelerate action to close that gap," US special envoy John Kerry tells reporters. — AFP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday says a UN climate change summit had made progress towards halting runaway global warming but more was needed to seal a deal.

"We've moved the ball a long way down the pitch, but we're stuck in a bit of a rolling maul," the rugby-loving prime minister says at the UN COP26 summit, which ends on Friday.

"If we're going to get there, we need a determined push to get us over the line," he tells a news conference. — AFP

Pacific Rim trade and foreign ministers agree to push for a freeze on fossil fuel subsidies at a virtual summit Wednesday but host Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand said more "bold" action on climate change was needed.

Ministers from the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group met online to discuss their Covid-19 response ahead of a meeting of national leaders on Saturday including US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

New Zealand Trade Minister Damien O'Connor says highlights included a plan to voluntarily freeze fossil fuel subsidies and commitments to liberalise tariffs on vaccines and other pandemic medical supplies. — AFP

US congressional Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, eager to repair damage caused by the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under Donald Trump, tell COP26 on Tuesday that "America is back" to lead on climate.

The 20-strong delegation at the UN climate talks included the chairs of key committees in the US House of Representatives, along with junior members such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, elected in 2018 in part on a platform of action to confront the threat of global warming.

"America is back on the international stage as a leader on climate action and drawdown" of greenhouse gas emissions, says Ocasio-Cortez, a main architect of the Green New Deal that helped shape major pieces of legislation. — AFP/Marlowe Hood

Tuvalu's foreign minister has filmed a video address to be shown at a UN climate summit Tuesday standing thigh deep in seawater and pleading for help as his country slips beneath rising oceans.

In the video, Simon Kofe tells delegates that "climate change and sea-level rise are deadly and existential risks for Tuvalu and low-lying atoll nations". 

"We are sinking, but so is everyone else," he said. 

"And no matter if we feel the effects today, like Tuvalu, or in a hundred years we will all still feel the dire effects of this global crisis."

The film begins with a close-up Kofe standing at a lectern, wearing a suit and tie, in front of a blue screen with Tuvalu and UN flags. 

"We are demanding that global net-zero be secured by mid-century, that 1.5 degrees be kept within reach, that urgently needed climate finance be mobilised to address loss and damage," he pleaded.  — AFP

Thousands of youth activists are preparing to descend on Glasgow on Friday to protest against what they say is a dangerous lack of action by leaders at the COP26 climate summit. 

Demonstrations are expected across the Scottish city to highlight the disconnect between the glacial pace of emissions reductions and the climate emergency already swamping countries across the world.

Organizers of the Fridays for Future global strike movement said they expected large crowds at the planned three-hour protest during COP26 "Youth Day", which will be attended by high-profile campaigners Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate. — AFP

Global CO2 emissions are set to rebound to pre-pandemic levels next year, according to an assessment published on Thursday as countries signed up to fossil-fuel cutting pledges criticized as too vague by campaigners. 

The grim emissions assessment was billed as a "reality check" for nations gathered at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, seen as a last chance to halt catastrophic climate change. 

Moderate progress this week was checked by the release of the Global Carbon Project's annual report, which showed that emissions from gas and coal will rise in 2021 by more than they dropped during the pandemic. — AFP  

Global CO2 emissions caused mainly by burning fossil fuels are set to rebound this year to pre-Covid levels, with China's carbon pollution increasing to nearly a third of the total, the Global Carbon Project consortium reports Thursday.

Emissions from gas and highly polluting coal will grow more in 2021 than they fell last year, according to the annual assessment, released as nearly 200 nations at the COP26 climate summit grapple for ways to decarbonise the global economy and beat back the threat of catastrophic warming. — AFP

South Africa wins a commitment from a group of rich nations for at least $8.5 billion and technical assistance to help the country's transition to a low-carbon economy.

France, Germany, Britain and the US, as well as the EU, signed the accord with Johannesburg at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow to help ensure a "just transition" for South Africa's coal-dependent economy, they said in a statement.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hailed the deal as "a watershed moment... proof that we can take ambitious climate action while increasing our energy security, creating jobs and harnessing new opportunities for investment, with support from developed economies". — AFP   

China hit backagainst criticism by US President Joe Biden, who had accused Beijing of not showing leadership after President Xi Jinping skipped the make-or-break COP26 United Nations summit in Glasgow.

Xi -- who leads the planet's largest emitter of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change -- has not travelled outside of China since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and has not joined world leaders for COP26.

Biden on Tuesday had launched blistering criticism of the Chinese and Russian leaders for not attending the summit. — AFP

US President Joe Biden's administration announces new regulations during the global climate summit aimed at "sharply" reducing methane emissions by the oil and natural gas industry.

The announcement came as Biden attended the COP26 in Glasgow, where dozens of countries joined an American and European Union pledge to cut emissions of methane -- the most potent greenhouse gas -- by 30% this decade.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it was proposing "comprehensive new protections to sharply reduce pollution from the oil and natural gas industry." — AFP

K-pop group Blackpink calls on world leaders to take action against climate change in a video message at the COP26 Summit in Glasgow.

Main vocalist Rosé says the group is convinced that climate change is the "most important issue of our time."

“If we all act now, if we all step up with real ambition, if you world leaders siezed this vital moment at COP26, we can still realize what was promised in Paris 2015. We can still save our planet. We can still save our future,” the group says.

We can still realise what was promised in Paris 2015. We can still save our planet. We can still save our future. ????
WATCH our message to world leaders at today’s UN Climate Change Conference – COP26 in #Glasgow#ClimateActionInYourArea #TogetherForOurPlanet #BLINKS @COP26 pic.twitter.com/nUyEDGZr36

— BLACKPINK GLOBAL BLINK (@ygofficialblink) November 3, 2021

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says humanity was starting to even the score against climate change after a two-day COP26 summit, but warned there was a "very long way to go".

Johnson says he was "cautiously optimistic" after the summit in Glasgow adopted new promises on deforestation, methane emissions and cash for poorer countries to avert the worst of global warming.

"And I think what you can say today... is that we've pulled back a goal or perhaps even two, and I think we're going to be able to take this thing to extra time," Johnson tells a news conference. — AFP

More than 80 countries have signed up to a US and EU pledge to slash methane emissions by 30% by the end of the decade, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen says. 

Cutting the powerful greenhouse gas by a third from 2020 levels will "immediately slow down climate change", von der Leyen tells the COP26 climate conference. — AFP

China says it has increased daily coal production by over one million tonnes, easing its energy shortage as world leaders gather in Britain for climate talks billed as one of the last chances to avert catastrophic global warming.

The world's biggest coal importer has battled widespread power cuts in recent months that have disrupted supply chains, due to strict emissions targets and record prices for the fossil fuel.

The production surge comes as world leaders — but not Chinese President Xi Jinping — convene in Glasgow for COP26 talks to secure more ambitious global greenhouse gas emissions. — AFP

World leaders meeting at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow will issue a multibillion-dollar pledge to end deforestation by 2030 but that date is too distant for campaigners who want action sooner to save the planet's lungs.

According to summit hosts the British government, the pledge is backed by almost $20 billion in public and private funding and is endorsed by more than 100 leaders representing over 85 percent of the world's forests, including the Amazon rainforest, Canada's northern boreal forest and the Congo Basin rainforest.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the agreement on deforestation was pivotal to the overarching ambition of limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius. — AFP

India's economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country's prime minister announces Monday at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

"By 2070, India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions," Narendra Modi tells more than 120 leaders at the critical talks.

India is the last of the world's major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the US and the EU aiming for 2050.

Modi also says India would increase its 2030 target for installed capacity of "non-fossil energy" — mostly solar — from 450 to 500 gigawatts. — AFP/Marlowe Hood

The government of Brazil, much criticized for its environmental policies, says it would cut 2005-level greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 — up from a previous pledge of 43 percent.

It also vows to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2028, two years earlier than a previous undertaking, despite record tree losses in recent years.

"We are presenting a new, more ambitious climate goal," Environment Minister Joaquim Leite announces in a message transmitted from Brasilia to Glasgow, which is hosting a COP26 climate summit seeking to ramp up global action. — AFP

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva urges world leaders gathered at the COP26 summit in Glasgow to show greater policy ambition, calling climate change a "grave threat to macroeconomic and financial stability."

"To achieve these cuts, policymakers attending COP26 must address two critical gaps: in ambition and in policy."

Georgieva urges advanced economies to reduce emissions "for reasons of equity and historical responsibility."

"Even if current commitments for 2030 were met, this would only amount to between one- and two-thirds of the reductions needed for temperature goals," she said. "Regardless of how cuts are spread across country groups, everyone has to do more." — AFP

Climate change and the relaunch of the global economy will top the G20 agenda as leaders of the world's most advanced nations meet Saturday, the first in-person gathering since the pandemic.

Looming over the two-day talks in Rome is pressure to make headway on tackling global warming, ahead of the key COP26 summit kicking off in Glasgow Monday.

The stakes are high, with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warning G20 leaders Friday to show "more ambition and more action" and overcome mistrust in order to advance climate goals. — AFP

Bookmark this page for updates on the United Nations climate summit, known as COP26. Photo courtesy of AFP/Tolga Akmen