Deep divisions still remained about the future of fossil fuels.
Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.
The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
"We need to move from commitments into action," Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. "The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out."
All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China's, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.
Organizers of COP26, the most crucial climate conference, have gone the extra mile and placed carts for the its reusable coffee and tea cups around the venue.
The president of the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions will not be present at COP26.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has not left the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and will be absent from the conference. He will instead send the country’s influential climate envoy Xie Zhenhua, according to reports.
COP26 was getting next to no play in the Chinese media on Monday which has remained focused on Xi’s video statements at the G20 conference over the weekend.
-ABC News’ Karson Yiu
No major emitter is doing enough to curb climate change, according to the experts.
Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm will announce the U.S. Department of Energy’s $199 million funding package for projects to reduce emissions from cars and trucks today.
The money will fund 25 projects which aim to lower carbon emissions through alternative-fuel technologies, the electrification of long-haul trucks and the improvement of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
“This investment and the innovations that come from it will help shape our clean energy future and strengthen domestic manufacturing that support good-paying careers for hardworking Americans,” Granholm said in a statement.
The funding is split between the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s ongoing SuperTruck Initiative and the Low Greenhouse Gas funding selections.
According to the press release, carbon pollution from transportation accounts for nearly 29% of all U.S. emissions, more than any other single sector.
