What to expect in second week of COP26... as UK announces £300m for poorer countries

8 November 2021, 00:01

COP26 talks are entering their second week with a focus on support for poorer countries to cope with climate change – and the business end of negotiations looming.

The UK government today announced plans to invest almost £300m helping the most vulnerable countries fight the impacts of rising temperatures.

The move is part of the focus by the UK, as host of the UN climate summit in Glasgow, on supporting developing countries with adapting to climate impacts, and addressing loss and damage caused by rising seas, increasingly intense storms, droughts and wildfires.

International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan will today urge nations to do more to support developing countries, while announcing the £274m financial pledge from Westminster.

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The money will be invested in Asia and the Pacific region to help communities better prepare for the impact of climate change.

It comes as a report from Christian Aid warns that some of the most vulnerable countries could suffer an average 64% hit to their economy by 2100 under current policies for tackling climate pollution.

Vulnerable countries are pushing for nations to revisit their plans in the next year to close the gap between the action on the table and what is needed this decade to prevent dangerous global warming beyond 1.5C.

It is one of the issues up for debate as ministers arrive for the political stage of the negotiations, along with finance for poorer countries to develop cleanly and cope with climate impacts, and funding for them to deal with loss and damage.

Read more: Boris Johnson demands more ambition from countries ahead of second week of COP26

Ministers need to hammer out the last parts of the Paris Agreement – under which countries agreed in 2015 to limit temperature rises to "well below" 2C, or 1.5C to prevent the worst impacts of warming – to make it operational.

This morning, countries will meet for a presidency update on the past week and progress of the negotiations.

As the talks enter their second week, former US president Barack Obama – a veteran of the failed UN climate summit in Copenhagen and the successful meeting in Paris which secured the world's first comprehensive climate treaty – will be at a series of events in Glasgow.

They include a speech laying out the progress made in the five years since the Paris Agreement took effect, highlighting the leadership of young people around the globe, and urging more robust action from governments, the private sector, philanthropy and civil society.

He will also meet young leaders attending Cop26 to discuss how their generation is leading the fight against climate change.