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 02, 2021, 3:11 PM EDT

'No doubt' progress has been made over past 2 days, Boris Johnson says

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the energy in Glasgow is different than six years ago when the Paris Agreement was signed.

At COP26, world leaders are starting to "tick the boxes" on how to reduce emissions, Johnson said, adding that he now has "no doubt" that progress has been made over the last two days.

"There was no road map, there was no very clear sense of how you could do it," he said of the Paris Agreement. "I think what you're starting to see here, in COP26 in Glasgow, is a sense of how actually you can deliver those cuts."

But the world leaders must also guard against false hope, he added.Johnson said he understands that leaders from developing countries don’t have the same "cautious optimism," admitting that "in the remaining days of this COP we have a lot more to do."

-ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 02, 2021, 3:28 PM EDT

‘Might as well bomb our islands’: Palau’s president speaks out

Surangel Whipps Jr., the president of the Pacific island state of Palau, pleaded with attendees to enact strong climate policies. 

“We see the scorching sun is giving us intolerable heat, the warming sea is invading us and the winds are blowing us every which way,” he told world leaders. “Our resources are disappearing before our eyes and our future is being robbed from us.”

Surangel S. Whipps, Jr, President of Palau speaks during National Statements session in Cairn Gorm Plenary at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 2, 2021.
Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto/Rex via Shutterstock

He went on, “Frankly speaking, there is no dignity to a slow and painful death -- you might as well bomb our islands instead of making us suffer only to witness our slow and painful demise.”

— ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 02, 2021, 3:27 PM EDT

India’s Modi launches global shared grid initiative

World leaders from the U.K., India and Kenya joined Biden at a leaders’ event to discuss the role of technology and innovation in curbing climate change.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India’s One Sun, One World, One Grid plan — a worldwide grid that could provide clean, solar energy to other nations.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during the World Leaders' Summit "Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment" session on day three of COP26 on Nov. 2, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

India sources 70% of its energy from coal and is the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

“Fossil fuel has helped many nations develop but it has harmed our environment,” Modi said.

Nov 02, 2021, 10:16 AM EDT

More than 100 countries sign pledge to reduce methane emissions

More than 100 countries, including the U.S., are committing to reduce methane emissions 30% by 2030. 

Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide because it causes more warming, but it also dissipates more quickly. The International Energy Agency has said that reducing methane emissions is key to stopping rising temperatures. 

The agreement reached Tuesday is the first time that heads of state have committed to reducing methane emissions, although it is a voluntary commitment among governments.

In this undated file photo the Trans-Alaska pipeline and pump station north of Fairbanks, Alaska is shown.
Al Grillo/AP FILE

The pledge is an important step, but like many issues when it comes to climate it’s only the beginning of what needs to be done, said Helen Mountford, vice president of climate and economics at the World Resources Institute. 

"This pledge from over 90 countries to cut methane emissions by at least 30% over the coming decade sets a strong floor in terms of the ambition we need globally," Mountford said in a statement Tuesday.

-ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs

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