COP26 updates: Countries officially adopt Glasgow Climate Pact

Deep divisions still remained about the future of fossil fuels.

ByJulia Jacobo, Ayushi Agarwal, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: November 14, 2021, 11:35 AM EST

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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the conference is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 01, 2021, 12:36 PM EDT

Bloomberg pledges $10 million to 'America is All In'

Mike Bloomberg, a member of the UN Special Envoy, and Gina McCarthy, the White House's national climate adviser, were some of the guests that joined the Biden administration on stage for the launch of the U.S. Center, a public diplomacy initiative, at COP26.

Highlighting the goal to cut emissions by 50% in nine years by 2030, Bloomberg said the world can't set goals for 2050, a year "which, I at age 79, am not likely to see."

Bloomberg announced Bloomberg Philanthropies' intention to close a quarter of all the world's existing coal plants and cancel all proposed new coal plants by 2025. He also committed $10 million to the “America is All In” coalition to mobilize climate action.

Former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 1, 2021.
Phil Noble/Reuters

"Of course, now that we have a strong partner in the White House, we can raise the bar higher, we can do more and we can do it faster," Bloomberg said. "What we can't do is sit back and wait for Congress to act."

Nov 01, 2021, 11:51 AM EDT

Biden emphasizes urgency to fight climate change: 'The science is clear'

President Joe Biden addressed leaders at the COP26 conference, declaring that countries need to act and act now.

"It’s simple," the president said. "Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the enormous opportunity before us? Will we, or will we condemn future generations to suffer?"

The upcoming decade will determine whether collective transformative action around the globe will be enough to curb global warming, Biden said. 

"We only have a brief window left before us to raise our ambitions," Biden said, adding that the time frame is "rapidly narrowing."

President Joe Biden speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 1, 2021.
Yves Herman/Reuters

The effects of the pandemic made "painfully clear" that "no nation can wall itself from borderless threats," Biden said, adding that no one can escape the worse consequences of climate change.

But it is in the self-interest of every country to create green energy and healthier ecosystems for the planet, he said. 

"We’re standing at an inflection point in world history," Biden said. 

Biden stated that the U.S. will be able to meet its ambitious target to reduce emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030 but called on the rest of the world to do the same. 

"We can do this, so let’s get to work," the president said.

Nov 01, 2021, 10:48 AM EDT

Greta Thunberg leads demonstrations in Glasgow

Youth climate activist Greta Thunberg has been making has been making her way around the COP26 summit. 

Thunberg was seen meeting with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and also took part in a student-led climate demonstration, leading the rally near the COP26 venue. 

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, center, poses for a photograph during her meeting with climate activists Vanessa Nakate, right, and Greta Thunberg during the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference, Nov. 1, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Andy Buchanan/Pool via Getty Images

-ABC News’ Maggie Rulli

Nov 01, 2021, 9:44 AM EDT

Video spotlights climate change's threat to life

A video presented in front of all COP26 attendees during the opening session featured clips showing the detrimental and fatal effects of climate change in the form of typhoons, avalanches and wildfires from around the world.

Related Topics