The first day of COP26 welcomed world leaders with key speeches from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, along with Sir David Attenborough, Prince Charles and UN secretary general Antonio Guterres.
The Prime Minister addressed world leaders, speaking about rising world temperatures in a global call to action. He said: “The anger and impatience of the world will be uncontainable unless we make this COP26 in Glasgow the moment we can get real about climate change, and we can get real on coal, cars, cash and trees.”
We also heard from Txai Surui, an indigenous activist from the Amazon rainforest, who pleaded with leaders to put indigenous people at the centre of the decisions made.
The Clean Green initiative (CGI) aims to support the roll-out of sustainable infrastructure and green technology in developing countries. This will include £3bn in climate finance over the next five years and a new £200m climate innovation facility.
Over 100 leaders, accounting for more than 86% of the worlds forests, committed to work together to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 in the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land use late on Monday evening.
Some 28 governments have signed up to a new Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) statement. This is part of a roadmap of actions designed to deliver sustainable trade and reduce pressure on forests, including support for smallholder farmers and improving the transparency of supply chains.
Day two saw commitments made on reducing methane emissions, with clean technology, innovation and renewable energy among other topics.
Leaders announced a variety of collaborative initiatives before they planned to return home, leaving further negotiations to their teams.
More than 40 world leaders, including the UK, India, China and US, have signed a new declaration aiming to deliver clean and affordable technology worldwide by 2030.
The first give Glasgow breakthroughs cover more than 50% of emissions:
Mr Johnson said: “The Glasgow breakthroughs will turbocharge this forward so that by 2030, clean technologies can be enjoyed everywhere, not only reducing emissions but also creating more jobs and greater prosperity.”
The global methane pledge gained over 100 signatures pledging to cut methane emission levels by 30% by 2030.
The new alliance includes the Bezos Earth Fund, Ikea Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, governments and central investment banks.
Per Heggenes, CEO of the IKEA Foundation, said: “The alliance will work closely with emerging and developing countries, which are keen to embrace an inclusive and just energy transition, to bring carbon emissions down and incomes up.”
UK chancellor Rishi Sunak took to the stage to kick off Finance Day, in which leaders made commitments in relation to mobilising public and private finance flows at scale for adaptation and mitigation.
The UK will commit £100m to the Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance, making it quicker and easier for developing countries to finance they need.
It will also be the world’s first net zero-aligned financial centre – making it mandatory for financial institutions and listed companies to publish a clear and deliverable plan to net zero.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) launched a business manifesto for climate recovery in the business pavilion.
The document calls for new corporate determined contributions (CDCs) to measure the private sector’s contribution to the global climate recovery.
Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), led by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, has up to $130tn of private capital committed to hitting net zero emission targets by 2050.
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