As COP26 opens, Morrison is forced to defend his climate efforts

For the next two weeks we’ll be bringing you all the news from the COP26 Summit, which has opened with a sternly worded address by The Queen telling world leaders to pull up their socks and show leadership on climate change.

Scott Morrison used his address to COP today not to call for greater ambition, but to defend his own government’s paltry climate efforts, as back at home experts line up to slam his technology-and-offsets driven net zero “plan”.

Morrison’s also committed a further $500m to regional climate finance, but as Fijian President Frank Bainimarma cogently points out, what the Pacific really needs from Australia is to stop extracting and burning the coal which is driving dangerous climate change.

What happened at Cop26 today – day one at a glance
A summary of the main developments on the first day of the UN climate summit in Glasgow

COP26: Scott Morrison tells world leaders Australia is ahead of pack in driving down emissions
Scott Morrison has told world leaders the “global momentum to tackle climate change is building”, with Australia ahead of the pack in driving down emissions without imposing economy wrecking policies.

Pacific nations need carbon cuts from Australia, not just cash: Fiji president
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has told Scott Morrison that coal has no place in this century’s economy during a meeting at climate talks in Glasgow, and that Pacific island nations expect more from the Australian government on climate.

Policy, not technology, is what we need: climate tech industry
The country’s leading climate technology experts have warned the Australian government not to expect future technology to solve its climate change problems, saying it must develop a policy-driven approach to let existing technology drive down fossil fuel usage now

Queen tells world leaders to 'rise above politics and achieve true statesmanship'
The Queen urged world leaders to 'earn a place in history' and 'answer the call of those future generations' in an impassioned speech to representatives at the COP26 summit tonight.

Carbon farming potential overhyped in federal government’s net zero plan: experts

Experts warn the federal government has overhyped the potential for carbon farming to offset a huge volume of emissions in Australia’s push to net zero by 2050.

‘One minute to midnight’: UK’s Johnson on climate
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell a climate summit on Monday that "it's one minute to midnight and we need to act now" as he calls on leaders to go beyond their pledges to developing nations and act on "coal, cars, cash, and trees."

The Green Steel Revolution Is Picking Up Steam
We may be one step closer to seeing a worldwide revolution in making greener steel thanks to a new international agreement on tariffs.