Climate change news from the ground, in a warming world Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here [[link removed]] Laurie Goering [[link removed]]

Climate editor

Will the COP26 climate talks "keep 1.5C alive" [[link removed]]? That's the crucial question in Glasgow this week as the negotiations race to try and finalise a deal on Friday.

Right now that goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement - to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius - is in jeopardy, with deep splits emerging about what would signal its demise.

"Overshoot is very likely unavoidable," warns Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. But Satyendra Prasad, Fiji's ambassador to the United Nations, emphasises that "beyond 1.5 we cannot imagine a future. It is not a number for negotiation."

A delegate looks at a screen during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 8, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Outside the talks, a throng of 120,000 protesters marched [[link removed]]on Saturday, demanding swift and ambitious emissions cuts, and "climate justice" - including more climate finance to help poorer nations adapt to threats and grow cleanly, and new ways to deal with inevitable "loss and damage" [[link removed]].

Health risks from climate change [[link removed]] are also swiftly rising, doctors and health officials warned, noting one key way to curb them would be to cut what the International Monetary Fund says is $5.9 trillion in direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies each year that make the polluting fuels artificially cheap.

"We need to stop spending money on the wrong things and start spending it on the right things," said Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, who heads the World Health Organization's climate and health unit - and cycled the 1,600 km to the Glasgow summit from Geneva.

Dysmus Kisilu stands with some of the solar power workers trained through his "Each One Teach One" programme in Kenya. Credit: Ashden

But amid a flurry of pledges to cut fossil fuel expansion [[link removed]], slash deforestation [[link removed]] and boost funding for climate action, there are plenty of bright spots at COP26.

The world, for instance, now has three nations that are not just carbon-neutral but carbon-negative [[link removed]], absorbing more emissions than they emit.

"We are showing the world what we can do if we have the political will," says Sonam Wangdi of Bhutan, one of the pioneering countries.

Young Kenyan entrepreneur Dysmus Kisilu is commercialising solar-powered cooling chests [[link removed]] he developed, cutting food waste, boosting incomes and helping women get jobs in the country's growing solar industry.

And rules to regulate global carbon markets [[link removed]] might be in the cards - though many aren't happy [[link removed]]about expanded trading in carbon offsets, saying too many net-zero pledges are more "net" than zero.

Will we get a deal in Glasgow? Follow our coverage here [[link removed]] as we find out.

See you next week!

Laurie

Dead or alive? COP26 climate talks strive to save 1.5C warming goal [[link removed]]

Vulnerable countries have campaigned for years to limit global warming with the slogan '1.5 to stay alive', but climate scientists say the world will almost inevitably overshoot the Paris pact target

'Don't make them wait': Pressure grows at COP26 for new funding for climate damage [[link removed]]

At the Glasgow talks, vulnerable countries are pressing hard for an official green-light to establish a new global loss and damage funding stream, but are making little headway so far

Turning heat to cooling, Kenyan inventor cuts food waste - and adds jobs and income [[link removed]]

The technology has enabled small businesses in remote areas in Kenya to access affordable power, and has been adopted to solve a new problem: keeping COVID-19 vaccines fresh

Stronger climate action urged at COP26 to avoid 'unimaginable' health risks [[link removed]]

From extreme heat to hunger, climate change is bringing growing health threats - but bringing together emissions cuts and adaptation efforts could help

Forget net-zero: meet the small-nation, carbon-negative club [[link removed]]

Forested Bhutan, Suriname and Panama now absorb more emissions than they produce. Can other countries join them?

Tired of COP26 promises, Glasgow protesters push climate justice from 'the outside' [[link removed]]

Indigenous peoples, African activists and others from developing nations led the Glasgow march, which had a focus on the role of racial and social inequity in the climate crisis

UN, UK vow to push youth climate demands at COP26 summit [[link removed]]

As young people presented their proposed climate policies at the negotiations, thousands of student activists marched through Glasgow

Pacific islanders struggle at COP26 climate summit as pandemic keeps leaders away [[link removed]]

Pacific islanders are pressing for deep cuts in emissions at COP26 even though leaders of just three nations in the region - Palau, Fiji and Tuvalu - have made it to Glasgow

Nature and climate protection pledges pile up at COP26, amid ghosts of past failures [[link removed]]

Dozens of nations pledged to do more to protect nature and overhaul farming - but past promises often have not been met

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