COP26 preview: Everything to know ahead of the climate summit
COP26 takes places in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November. Image: REUTERS/Matthias Rietschel
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:
SDG 13: Climate Action
Listen to the article
- This round-up brings you everything you need to know about the COP26 climate summit, climate change and greenhouse gas emissions targets.
- Top news stories: China submits updated nationally determined contributions; UN warns world on course for 2.7°C rise on current emission pledges; India rejects a call for net-zero carbon emissions target.
Key COP26 stories
The United Nations called on Wednesday for the world's biggest economies to ensure net-zero commitments made by financial institutions were robust, backed by science and ended financing for new fossil fuel projects.
A study suggests the world will need to shut down nearly 3,000 coal-fired power plants before 2030 if it is to have a chance of keeping temperature rises within 1.5°C.
China has submitted updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to fight climate change, a UN registry showed on Thursday, formally boosting headline emissions-cutting pledges but offering nothing new ahead of the key climate talks in Glasgow.
The European Union is set to launch a project with South Africa at COP26 to speed up the country's exit from coal.
The UN's biodiversity chief has called for any new pledges made at COP26 to include protection and restoration of natural areas.
Russia will press for its forests, nuclear plants and hydro-electric power to be recognized as green projects at COP26, its environment minister told Reuters.
Australia will not back a pledge, led by the European Union and the United States, to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 due to concerns about the impact on farming, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this week.
The World Bank said this week that climate change will force tens of millions of people in East Africa to abandon their homes in the next three decades.
What’s the World Economic Forum doing about climate change?
India rejects a call for net-zero carbon emissions target
Ahead of COP26, India has rejected calls to announce a net-zero carbon emissions target. Instead, it said it was more important for the world to lay out a pathway to reduce such emissions and prevent a dangerous rise in global temperatures.
Environment Secretary R.P.Gupta told reporters that announcing net zero was not the solution to the climate crisis.
"It is how much carbon you are going to put in the atmosphere before reaching net zero that is more important."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the climate summit in Glasgow, which will run from 31 October to 12 November.
UN warns world on course for 2.7C rise on current emission pledges
The United Nations warned this week that current commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions put the world on course for an average temperature rise of 2.7°C.
The report came ahead of COP26, when world leaders will meet to discuss climate targets and how to keep the world on track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
"If there is no meaningful reduction of emissions in the next decade, we will have lost forever the possibility to reach 1.5 degrees," UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a press briefing.
"It is absolutely essential that all G20 countries present before Glasgow or in Glasgow (pledges) that are compatible with 1.5°C," he added.
How to follow COP26
You can follow the World Economic Forum's coverage of COP26 on Agenda, on our Radio Davos podcast, at Forum COP26 Live and across social media.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Related topics:
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Nature and BiodiversitySee all
Kirsten Schuijt and Maria Susana Muhamad González
October 11, 2024
Douglas Broom
October 11, 2024
Johnny Wood and Madeleine North
October 3, 2024
Andreas Obrecht and Akanksha Khatri
September 25, 2024
Gill Einhorn and Rosie Ponting
September 25, 2024