Today was the second and final day of the leaders meeting at the UN COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes an address to mark the opening day of COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland on 1 November, 2021. Photo: Alberto Pezzali / POOL / AFP
World leaders are leaving the meeting, with negotiators for each nation taking over to agree on climate pledges.
Countries have already announced major deals, including a global pledge to slash methane levels by 2030 as well as to end and reverse deforestation by the same year.
But there is some way to go to keep alive the Paris Agreement goal of restricting global temperature rises to 1.5C.
Here's a summary of some of the major developments.
100 sign onto methane pledge including New Zealand
More than 100 countries agreed on Tuesday to cut emissions of methane.
The US-EU global partnership aims to slash them by a third by the end of this decade compared with 2020 levels.
However, three of the world's largest methane emitters - China, Russia and India - are not joining the pledge, while Australia has said it will not back it.
New Zealand has signed up, but farmers are off the hook, as the government is not planning additional cuts to agricultural emissions in response to joining the agreement.
It is sticking with plans laid out in the Zero Carbon act to reduce agricultural methane by 10 percent by 2030.
Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases and responsible for a third of current warming from human activities.
Green Grids - and the Kiwi behind the idea
Britain and India introduced a plan to improve connections between the world's electricity power grids to accelerate the transition to greener energy.
Linking the grids would allow parts of the world with excess renewable power to send it to areas with deficits. For instance, countries where the sun has set could draw power from others still able to generate solar electricity.
The "Green Grids Initiative" was backed by more than 80 countries and could set a model for how rich countries help poorer ones to reduce their emissions.
Read about the New Zealander behind the idea here
China has "walked away" from climate - Biden
More than 120 leaders turned up at the conference in Scotland's largest city.
US President Joe Biden lashed out at the leaders of China and Russia for not going.
He called the climate a gigantic issue and said that China had "walked away" - adding it was the "same thing with Russia and Putin".
Both countries however have sent delegations to the talks.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is not attending the meeting as she is hosting APEC, Climate Change Minister James Shaw arrives for the second week.
Deforestation deal welcomed - previous attempt did not work
More than 100 world leaders have promised to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.
Brazil - where stretches of the Amazon rainforest have been cut down - was among the signatories.
The pledge includes almost £14 billion ($19.2b) of public and private funds.
Experts welcomed the move, but warned a previous deal in 2014 had "failed to slow deforestation at all" and commitments needed to be delivered on.
Other announcements of note
A major sticking point this COP is getting the developed countries to follow through on pledges to give poorer countries $US100b a year starting 2020 to tackle climate change.
They have fallen well short.
But Japan has now offered up to $10b over five years in additional assistance to support decarbonisation in Asia.
This could leverage another $8b from the World Bank, allowing the target to be meet only two years late by 2022 instead of 2023 as previously feared.
Meanwhile, nations including the UK, China, India and the US are to work together to create standards and incentives for new technologies.
The governments of France, Germany, the UK, the US, and the EU, have outlined a partnership to get South Africa off coal, with an initial funding of £6b ($8.5b).
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges $US2b for restoring nature, claiming he had grasped nature's fragility when he travelled into space.
The Bezos Earth Fund plans to spend $10b fighting climate change overall.
- Reuters / BBC / RNZ
