Race against time for leaders to agree climate deal in last 48 hours of Cop26 as US and China announce surprise joint agreement to tackle global warming – as Glasgow summit’s own huge carbon footprint is revealed

• Fears summit could break up tomorrow without a significant deal on emissions
• The US and China increased hopes last night with surprise announcement 
• Pledged to work together on enhancing emissions-cutting action in the 2020s 

Boris Johnson urged world leaders to ‘deliver an ambitious outcome for the planet’ today as the end of the Cop26 climate summit approaches.

He spoke out amid fears the UN global conference could break up tomorrow without a significant deal to tackle global temperature increases.

The US and China increased hopes last night with the surprise announcement that the economic adversaries will work together on enhancing emissions-cutting action in the 2020s.

Leaders of the two global superpowers said they would meet the goals of the Paris climate accord to limit global warming to ‘well below’ 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C. 

It came as the green credentials of the event in Glasgow, which has attracted thousands of politicians, delegates, lobbyists, businesses and journalists.

A new report found that it is expected to have a carbon footprint twice as large as Cop25, making it the most carbon-intensive summit of its kind.

A preliminary report for the UK Government by consultants Arup states 102,500 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) is due to be released by the summit in Glasgow. 

Around 60 per cent of this comes from international flights taken by world leaders and business leaders including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

His £48million Gulf Stream led a 400-strong parade of private jets into COP26 a fortnight ago, including those belonging to Prince Albert of Monaco, scores of royals and dozens of ‘green’ CEOs – as an extraordinary traffic jam forced empty planes to fly 30 miles to find space to park.  

Boris Johnson urged world leaders to ‘deliver an ambitious outcome for the planet’ today as the end of the Cop26 climate summit approaches.

The US and China increased hopes last night with the surprise announcement that the economic adversaries will work together on enhancing emissions-cutting action in the 2020s.

Amazon airways: Jeff Bezos’ Gulfstream private jet – which reportedly cost him £48million – arrives at Prestwick Airport near Glasgow

Voters following green talks – but don’t trust politicians to do a deal 

Almost half of Britons are following the Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow, but only 20 per cent trust politicians to deliver an agreement to stave off runaway global warming, new polling has found.

Some 46 per cent of Britons have been following the summit, with about one in 10 saying they are following it closely.

The UK public had the most faith in experts to ensure the negotiations reach a viable agreement, with four in 10 saying scientists were best-placed to achieve this, according to research by Ipsos Mori.

As the talks enter their final phase, less than one in five think politicians will get the job done, with only 17 per cent saying they trust UK policy-makers, and only 14 per cent having faith in those from other countries.

Out of a sample of 1,016 adults aged 16 to 75, more had faith in climate activists than politicians, with 24 per cent saying they could successfully force an agreement over the line.

Some 15 per cent of respondents said none of the delegates at the summit would be able to make the talks a success, with six per cent saying they did not think an agreement should be reached.

China and India were perceived as dragging their feet – with around 50 per cent of those polled saying they could be doing more in the fight against climate change.

Half of Britons said India’s commitment to be carbon neutral by 2070 was not ambitious enough while 48 per cent said the same of China’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2060.

The pledge by more than 100 countries to end deforestation by 2030 which was announced early on in the conference was the most popular, with 41 per cent saying the target was about right.

Nearly a third – 29 per cent – say it is not ambitious enough while only 17 per cent say it is too ambitious.

This morning the Prime Minister: ‘I welcome the strong show of commitment from China and the US last night to step up climate action this decade and keep 1.5C in reach.

‘This is a boost to negotiations as we go into the final days of COP26 and continue working to deliver an ambitious outcome for the planet.’

His brief visit to Cop26 last night came after the UK Cop presidency published a first draft of a deal that could be struck in Glasgow, which urged countries to bring forward more ambitious plans for cutting emissions up to 2030 in the next year.

The draft also calls for long term ‘net zero’ plans, as well as action on climate finance, helping poorer countries adapt to the impacts of global warming and to address the loss and damage they will inevitably suffer.

And it calls for an acceleration of phasing out coal and subsidies for fossil fuels, a first for such a UN text,although that is likely to be getting major pushback from some quarters as negotiating teams consider the draft, and will likely be lost from the final text.

On Thursday Denmark and Costa Rica are set to announce an alliance focused on phasing out oil and gas.

Scientists have warned that keeping temperature rises to 1.5C requires global emissions to be cut by 45 per cent by 2030, and to zero overall by mid-century but countries’ plans for this decade leave the world well off track.

New analysis this week warned existing plans up to 2030 put the world on track for 2.4C of warming, well above the goals internationally agreed in the Paris accord to curb temperature rises to ‘well below’ 2C and try to limit them to 1.5C.

With Glasgow failing to close the gap, the pressure is now on countries to agree a deal that will ensure they take more action in the 2020s and keep the 1.5C goal within reach.

Cop26 is nearing the end of its second full week in Glasgow, with more than 30,000 people expected to attend the conference.

Madrid hosted Cop25 in 2019, which produced 51,101 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e).

The UK Government said this year’s summit is the largest climate change conference so far, and the Arup report includes emissions from both the blue and green zones.

The Arup report said its figure of 102,500 tCO2e represented ‘the best working assessment of the emissions from the event’.

Commenting on the report, Dr Doug Parr of Greenpeace UK said: ‘The meeting in Glasgow is not supposed to be a demonstration of sustainable lifestyles, and it shouldn’t be judged in those terms.

‘But the failure to reach any meaningful agreement about limiting aviation’s vast carbon emissions – at a conference where 60% of their emissions came from aviation, with a backing chorus of media outrage at the private jet hypocrisy of the elites – really highlights the lack of equity in these talks.

‘Creating loopholes for the use of the rich not only maintains their disproportionately high emissions, but makes it so much harder to persuade anyone else to cut.’

Delegates have been asked to consider low-carbon methods of travel to Cop26.

A spokeswoman for the UK Government said: ‘As official UNFCCC figures show, Cop26 is a substantially bigger event than other recent Cops, with over 39,000 participants as against nearly 27,000 at Cop25.

‘Cop26 will be a carbon neutral event and will be the first Cop to demonstrate carbon neutrality validation through PAS2060, the internationally recognised standard on carbon neutrality.

‘As part of its analysis, the Government has for the first time included both the full blue and green zone impacts, giving a fuller and more accurate picture of emissions from the site.’

The Government said the Arup report is a baseline assessment which would not fully reflect many of the emission-reduction measures, while final emissions will be confirmed following the event.

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