The Glasgow Climate Pact approved by almost 200 countries on the final day of Cop26 followed a long list of promises and announcements aimed at reining in global warming.
The Glasgow talks began with a promise to focus on four key areas: coal, cars, cash and trees, as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson put it.
As well as announcements on these, there were landmark promises on greenhouse gas emissions and a surprise deal between two of the world’s largest polluters.
But many climate activists are sceptical over whether enough progress has been made in Glasgow.
The National looks at the main agreements secured at the UN summit.
Stopping deforestation
A pledge by more than 100 countries to reverse the loss of forests was one of the first breakthroughs of the summit.
The UK hailed the promise as a “landmark commitment” and welcomed the fact that Brazil, home to much of the Amazon rainforest and often criticised for its climate policies, was one of the signatories.
The countries promised to turn the tide on deforestation by 2030 by tackling wildfires, restoring degraded land and protecting the livelihoods of forest dwellers.
Climate activists welcomed the focus on nature but said planting trees was no substitute for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“We want to see nature protection and restoration happening alongside the urgent phasing out of fossil fuels,” said Nathalie Pettorelli, a researcher at the Zoological Society of London.
“This cannot be seen as a strategy to reduce ambition or offset continued emissions.”
Cut methane emissions
A push by the EU and US to persuade countries to cut their methane emissions led to 103 nations promising a 30 per cent reduction this decade.
Leaders described it as a significant pledge because methane is a major factor in warming the planet, meaning emissions cuts could have a big impact.
Those who did not sign up were invited in the final agreement to “consider further actions” to reduce methane emissions.
US President Joe Biden promised to lead the way by fixing the leaky gas pipelines that produce some of America’s methane.
But critics said leaders had sidestepped one of the main options for cutting methane emissions – telling people to eat less meat.
Keeping 1.5°C alive
As part of the Cop26 process, most of the countries involved submitted a five-year plan which sets out how they plan to reduce emissions.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, these should become increasingly ambitious and aim to cap global warming at below 2°C, and ideally 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels. Scientists say the extra half a degree would have drastic consequences.
India became the last of the world’s major polluters to announce a drive towards net-zero emissions, although its 2070 target date is conspicuously later than other countries.
Together with the agreements in Glasgow, there was optimism that the latest suite of proposals could keep the temperature rise below 2°C – but only if they are all implemented.
And there was no suggestion that the world is on track for 1.5°C.
By the end of the summit, attention was shifting to how these ambitions could be raised in time for next year’s Cop27 summit in Egypt. The final text called on countries to revisit their 2030 proposals next year.
Frans Timmermans, the EU’s top delegate in Glasgow, said the world needed to be on track for 1.5°C by the time of Cop27.
“We need to make sure major emitters reduce their emissions so that we keep 1.5°C alive,” he said.
US/China pact
The talks brought an unexpected announcement on Wednesday when the US and China said they would work more closely together on climate change.
The geopolitical rivals are two of the world’s biggest polluters and coal users, and have often been accused of inaction on climate change.
Their joint announcement said they would co-operate on issues such as clean energy, carbon capture and environmental standards.
“It was definitely a positive and important signal for the negotiations,” said the World Wide Fund for Nature. “But here, too, the focus is now on implementation.”
Agriculture tech
The US and UAE unveiled a joint initiative at Cop26 to help the agriculture sector, which accounts for about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, to go green.
The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate has mobilised $4 billion in a project backed by the UK hosts. Target areas include climate-resilient crops and better water management to ensure resources are not wasted.
Other supporters include the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and prominent non-governmental agencies, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The project was one of the so-called Glasgow Breakthroughs, projects which aim to bolster green technology in sectors such as power, steel and road transport.
“By making clean technology the most affordable, accessible and attractive choice – the default go-to in what are currently the most polluting sectors – we can cut emissions right around the world,” Mr Johnson said.
Phasing out coal power
In the run-up to the summit, Cop26 president Alok Sharma repeatedly described it as the moment when coal power should be “consigned to history”.
The UK celebrated a breakthrough when dozens of countries, including major coal users such as Poland, promised for the first time to step away from the fossil fuel.
It came alongside promises by major investors to stop financing coal power abroad.
However, the world’s three biggest coal users, China, India and the US, made no promise to phase it out.
And a contentious passage on coal in the final text was watered down in the summit's last moments. India pushed through an amendment for a phase-out to be replaced with a phase-down.
“The only reason why we cannot lean back and declare Cop26 a success is because of the urgency, because we have only 10 years left of the global carbon budget,” said Prof Johan Rockstrom, a Swedish climate expert who attended the summit.
“It doesn’t add up because we do not have China, we do not have the US on board on all of the coal phase-out.”
Financing the green transition
Investors who manage a combined $130 trillion of assets unveiled a promise in Glasgow to use their funds in the service of climate change goals.
The vast sums of money are needed to build defences against natural disasters and to help poorer countries to develop without damaging the planet.
The rich world sought to reassure developing countries that they would soon get the delayed $100bn in annual funding they were first promised in 2009.
The US agreed to a demand to double its climate finance by 2025 but said this should not only apply to a club of rich countries.
But sceptics said the failure to meet a 2020 deadline had undermined confidence that sufficient funds would ever be delivered.
“We don’t believe you. We don’t believe that banks will suddenly put trillions of dollars on the table for climate action when rich countries have struggled to find $100bn,” said activist Vanessa Nakate in an emotional speech in Glasgow.
Green travel
Of Mr Johnson’s four key words, cars perhaps featured the least prominently at Cop26. But 30 countries promised to work together to make zero-emission vehicles “the new normal” by the end of the decade.
Car makers, including Ford, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover, set 2040 as their target date for selling exclusively zero-emission cars and vans. Some major manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Toyota did not join the pledge.
India’s motor industry used the summit to launch a plan to go electric which insiders hope will spur similar action in other developing countries.
Meanwhile, tourist industry leaders signed a Glasgow Declaration promising to halve the sector’s emissions by 2030. Saudi Arabia hopes to lead the way by opening a hub of expertise in the kingdom.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULT
Manchester United 2 Burnley 2
Man United: Lingard (53', 90' 1)
Burnley: Barnes (3'), Defour (36')
Man of the Match: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
The bio
Favourite book: Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Favourite quote: “The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist
Favourite Authors: Arab poet Abu At-Tayyib Al-Mutanabbi
Favourite Emirati food: Luqaimat, a deep-fried dough soaked in date syrup
Hobbies: Reading and drawing
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories From the North
Edited and Introduced by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson
Pushkin Press
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
All or Nothing
Amazon Prime
Four stars
Structural%20weaknesses%20facing%20Israel%20economy
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
RESULTS
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Hamilton profile
Age 32
Country United Kingdom
Grands Prix entered 198
Pole positions 67
Wins 57
Podiums 110
Points 2,423
World Championships 3
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202-litre%204-cylinder%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E268hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E380Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh208%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Afro%20salons
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 2
(Martial 30', McTominay 90 6')
Manchester City 0
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
57%20Seconds
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rusty%20Cundieff%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJosh%20Hutcherson%2C%20Morgan%20Freeman%2C%20Greg%20Germann%2C%20Lovie%20Simone%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
SPEC%20SHEET
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Spain drain
CONVICTED
Lionel Messi Found guilty in 2016 of of using companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying €4.1m in taxes on income earned from image rights. Sentenced to 21 months in jail and fined more than €2m. But prison sentence has since been replaced by another fine of €252,000.
Javier Mascherano Accepted one-year suspended sentence in January 2016 for tax fraud after found guilty of failing to pay €1.5m in taxes for 2011 and 2012. Unlike Messi he avoided trial by admitting to tax evasion.
Angel di Maria Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain star Angel di Maria was fined and given a 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud during his time at Real Madrid. But he is unlikely to go to prison as is normal in Spain for first offences for non-violent crimes carrying sentence of less than two years.
SUSPECTED
Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid's star striker, accused of evading €14.7m in taxes, appears in court on Monday. Portuguese star faces four charges of fraud through offshore companies.
Jose Mourinho Manchester United manager accused of evading €3.3m in tax in 2011 and 2012, during time in charge at Real Madrid. But Gestifute, which represents him, says he has already settled matter with Spanish tax authorities.
Samuel Eto'o In November 2016, Spanish prosecutors sought jail sentence of 10 years and fines totalling €18m for Cameroonian, accused of failing to pay €3.9m in taxes during time at Barcelona from 2004 to 2009.
Radamel Falcao Colombian striker Falcao suspected of failing to correctly declare €7.4m of income earned from image rights between 2012 and 2013 while at Atletico Madrid. He has since paid €8.2m to Spanish tax authorities, a sum that includes interest on the original amount.
Jorge Mendes Portuguese super-agent put under official investigation last month by Spanish court investigating alleged tax evasion by Falcao, a client of his. He defended himself, telling closed-door hearing he "never" advised players in tax matters.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Christopher Robin
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Haley Atwell, Jim Cummings, Peter Capaldi
Three stars
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality