COP26: Everything to know about the climate change summit on 5 November

A new study has found that only 2% of the Great Barrier Reef has escaped bleaching since 1998. But, if global warming is kept to 1.5 degrees - the goal of COP26 - then the reef could still thrive.

Leaders from almost all Pacific Islands states typically attend COPs, but only three have been able to make the trip this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It has been a huge challenge,” Seve Paeniu, Finance Minister of Tuvalu, said of simply getting to Glasgow.

The United States has called on countries at COP26 to join it in setting aggressive goals to expand electricity production from offshore wind.

A global coalition of industrial companies said on Thursday that it has boosted a target for emissions-cutting hydrogen generated with renewable power such as wind and solar energy.

Proposed new rules will see most big UK firms and financial institutions forced to show how they intend to hit climate targets.

A global pledge to cut coal gained the support of 23 more countries at COP26 yesterday. However, Australia, India, the United States and China did not join.

The Irish government has set out climate targets for key sectors of its economy, in a plan it said will cost 125 billion euros ($144 billion) of private and public investment.

India, Indonesia and the Philippines will join South Africa as the first recipients of a multibillion-dollar pilot programme aimed at accelerating their transition from coal power to clean energy, the Climate Investment Funds said yesterday.

The International Energy Agency has said that COP26 climate pledges could help limit global warming to 1.8 degrees Celsius - if they're implemented.

The United States, Canada and 18 other countries committed at COP26 on Thursday to stop public financing for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of next year.

The First Movers Coalition, a partnership between the World Economic Forum and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, was launched yesterday.

The coalition will drive demand for zero-carbon technology, accelerating the development and deployment of new decarbonizing technologies. John Kerry explained: "In this critical decade, we not only need to deploy as rapidly as possible existing clean energy technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panel, and battery storage but also drive innovation for our long-term decarbonization goals."

Børge Brende, World Economic Forum President, added: "Technology has given us the tools to reduce our emissions and build a stronger and more inclusive economy of the future. For innovators and investors to play their part in tackling the climate crisis, they need clear market demand. The First Movers Coalition will leverage the collective purchasing power of leading companies and drive the need for these technologies."

You can read Børge Brende's blog, visit the First Movers Coalition website or watch yesterday's launch.

For Africa's Great Green Wall project to succeed in stopping desert advancement, local people need sustainable power so they do not cut down the trees that make up the desert barrier, the head of the African Development Bank (AfDB) said yesterday at an event on the sidelines of COP26.

The African Union initiative has started to plant trees, invest in agriculture and create sustainable ecosystems. When complete, it will stretch across an 8,000-kilometre-long and 15-kilometre-wide strip from Senegal to Djibouti.

"If there is no electricity in the Sahel, and the levels are very, very low right now, that whole wall is nothing more than a pack of charcoal and fuelwood waiting to be cut down," AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina said.