More now from Starmer on what the UK did in the first 100 days to improve the output of emissions.

He says that in the first hundred days "we scrapped the ban on onshore wind, we committed to no new North Sea oil and gas licences and began to renew those north sea communities with a program of investment in jobs and industries".

"We closed the final coal power plant at the end of September, becoming the first G7 economy to phase out coal power".

He goes on to say he wants to get "ahead of the game", whether that's with carbon capture, in Teeside and Merseyside, where last month I announced funding for carbon capture projects using the skills of oil and gas communities as we head towards net zero."

Starmer says this is an opportunity for investment, better jobs, cheaper bills and developing the tech of the future.

He adds it's opportunity to ensure the prosperity of all nations for decades to come.

Starmer says these are issues the UK government cares about.

Image source, PA Media

Keir Starmer begins his speech by saying there are two possible paths ahead to address climate.

The first, one of inaction and delay, or the second - the path "fixed firmly on the opportunities for tomorrow".

"Let me be clear, there is no national security, no economic security, no global security, without climate security," Starmer says.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is taking questions from the press at the COP29 conference in Baku.

We'll be bringing you key lines from his comments as we receive them. You can also follow his speech live by pressing Watch live at the top of the page.

You can also expect as-it-happens analysis from our journalists on the ground. Later today, Starmer will be unveiling the UK's new emissions target.

Although it's likely to be slashed by US president-elect Donald Trump, Joe Biden's administration has finalised a "methane fee" for big oil and gas producers today.

The fee starts at $900 (£703) per metric tonne of methane emitted this year, increasing to $1,200 (£937) in 2025 and $1,500 (£1,171) for 2026.

The Environmental Protection Agency says the fee would only apply to facilities which release more than 25,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide equivalent.

"Carbon dioxide equivalent" is a common unit of measurement for all greenhouse gas emissions, so that all gases can be compared.

Methane is a particularly potent warming gas, but only has a relatively short lifetime in the atmosphere.

For this reason, scientists say that cutting methane emissions could be one of the most effective ways of slowing warming in the short term.

Mark Poynting
Climate and environment researcher

Image source, Reuters

Incoming US President Donald Trump has announced that Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, will be appointed as administrator of the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA).

Trump says that Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions … while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet”.

Trump's statement does not directly mention Zeldin's role in tackling climate change.

Environmentalists have criticised Trump's plans to deregulate, warning that it could undermine safeguards designed to make it harder for companies to get away with pollution.

Zeldin’s environmental record is mixed, and he has not spoken at length on climate change recently.

He has opposed some local offshore oil and gas drilling projects, and has supported some tighter rules on “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

But he has also voted to overturn a ban on fracking – a method for extracting oil and gas from shale rock – and has regularly opposed the Clean Air Act.

Greg Brosnan
Climate and Science team

The election of Donald Trump has thrown a shadow over COP29, to put it mildly - it's very likely he will pull the US out of the landmark 2015 Paris agreement to cut planet-warming emissions.

But UK energy security and climate change secretary Ed Miliband says he is sure common ground can be found with him.

"He will make his own decisions about what he wants to do," Miliband told BBC Breakfast. “I obviously want him to stay in the Paris climate agreement but that’s his decision. He’s been elected by the US people but we will work with him and seek that common ground."

"Of course the US election results are highly relevant to these decisions here this week but I think that the reality is that this is an unstoppable transition," he said. "You only need to look at the tragic events in Spain to know why we need to act."

Image source, Reuters

The US has just chosen its next president, Donald Trump. That's casting a shadow over the superpower's future on climate change.

Trump is a known climate sceptic: part of his campaign was pledging to drill more, and he's previously called climate change a "hoax".

Outgoing President Joe Biden's team is at the summit this year. The US climate envoy said yesterday they will continue to tackle climate change, despite the incoming administration.

But with Trump's election, the US will likely withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and from providing finance to fight climate change.

It’s also possible that Trump’s re-election might drive a new sense of unity, even building a coalition who might agree a major step on money for poorer countries.

Experts argue that the climate crisis, and our collective response to it, will outlast a second Trump term.

• Trump victory is a major setback for climate action, experts say

Anna Holligan
Hague correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Oil giant Shell has won a landmark case in the Dutch courts, overturning an earlier ruling requiring it to cut its carbon emissions by 45%.

The Hague court of appeal said it could not establish that Shell had a "social standard of care" to reduce its emissions by 45% or any other amount, even though it agreed the company had an obligation to citizens to limit emissions.

Three years ago, a court in The Hague backed a case by Friends of the Earth and 17,000 Dutch citizens requiring Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions significantly, in line with the Paris climate accords.

Shell said it was pleased with the court's decision, but Friends of the Earth Netherlands said the ruling was a setback that affected them deeply.

• The group can now take its case against Shell to the Supreme Court - but a final verdict could be years away

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter in Baku

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

This year is "a masterclass in climate destruction".

So says Antonio Guterres, the head of the UN, in an impassioned speech to leaders at the start of today's proceedings.

"Families running for their lives before the next hurricane strikes. Biodiversity destroyed in sweltering seas.

"Workers and pilgrims collapsing in insufferable heat. Floods tearing through communities, and tearing down infrastructure.

"Children going to bed hungry as droughts ravage crops. All these disasters, and more, are being supercharged by human-made climate change."

The answer to this, Guterres says, is for wealthy countries to commit to more money to fighting climate change.

He calls for a reframing on the issue - that countries like the EU, US and Europe should not see it as charity, but an investment.

"On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price."

Image source, Reuters

Azerbaijan has big plans to expand gas production by up to a third over the next decade.

Some observers worry about a country with that goal being in charge of a conference that aims to transition away from fossil fuels.

Oil and gas are a major cause of climate change because they release planet-warming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide when burned for energy.

COP29 chair Mukhtar Babyev is Azerbaijan's minister for ecology and natural resources - and a former oil executive. He spent 26 years at Azerbaijan's state-owned oil and gas company Socar.

This is the second year that the climate conference has been headed by a nation with fossil fuel interests: Last year, the United Arab Emirates' Sultan al-Jaber, chair of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, was conference president.

There are also concerns that Azerbaijani officials are using the climate conference to boost investment in the country’s national oil and gas company, the BBC has previously reported.

There are also reservations about holding this key event in a country with a poor human rights record, where political opposition isn’t tolerated.

Image source, Getty Images

It's just past midday in Baku, and we've just heard from Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.

"Azerbaijan's share in global gas emissions is only 0.1%," he tells the conference.

"I have to bring these figures to the attention of our audience, because right after Azerbaijan was elected as a host country of COP29, we became a target of a coordinated, well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail," Aliyev says.

"Western fake news media and so-called independent NGOs and some politicians, as if [they] were competing in spreading disinformation and false information about our country," he adds.

Aliyev calls oil, gas and other natural resources a "gift of God" and says countries should not be blamed for having them or bringing them to the market.

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, and to keep them "well below" 2.0C above those recorded in pre-industrial times.

Nearly 200 parties adopted the legally binding international treaty on climate change at COP21 - nine years ago.

Just last week, it was projected that 2024 would be the first year to breach the 1.5C global warming limit.

It's also expected to be the hottest year on record.

Read more here about the Paris agreement and why 1.5C is such a significant limit.

Image source, PA Media

The UK’s prime minister says he won’t increase the nation’s public sector finance contributions beyond the £11.6 billion already pledged until 2025/26, even if other countries do.

Speaking on the way to COP, Keir Starmer says his government will honour the outgoing government's promises, but is not “making any commitment for the UK at this COP at all” on increasing financial contributions.

“Obviously, this COP is not about bringing further individual contributions. It's about what the overall sum will be. I will be making the argument that the private sector ought to be paying into that”, Starmer adds.

“I think it’s high time the private sector played their part in this.”

Today he will be setting out the UK’s emissions targets. He says there’s a race on to show global leadership on addressing climate change, and “I want us to win the race”.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter at COP29, Baku

This year's "family photo" shows a notable absence of women amongst the leaders, in keeping with an ongoing trend at the conference. Last year there were just 15 women shown among 133 leaders - and this was still double the number that attended in previous years.

I spoke with Catherine McKenna, Canada's former climate minister who attended these negotiations four times, about how it feels to sometimes be among the only women in the room.

"There are far too few women certainly in terms of leaders, but even at the negotiating tables", she says.

Image source, Reuters

The negotiating teams are made up of civil servants and government ministers. Last year 62% of them were male.

"We know women are more ambitious in pushing for climate action. So we need to have more women than ever", McKenna adds.

Previous research by the UN , externalhas shown that women are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Around 80% of those displaced by extreme weather are women and girls, and it is estimated that by 2050 climate change may push 158 million more into poverty.

That is why it is so important women are present in the talks to advocate for themselves, McKenna says.

We're now receiving the COP29 "family photo", a picture taken annually of world leaders in attendance at the climate conference.

The photo is meant to show unity amongst leaders on climate action.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

World leaders descended on Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, yesterday as COP29 kicked off.

This year, the focus is agreeing on how to get more cash to poorer countries to help them in the fight against climate change. Here’s what happened on its first day:

• The conference was opened by outgoing COP president Dr Sultan al-Jaber, who asked everyone to "act, unite and deliver"
• Azerbaijan's Mukhtar Babayev - the nation's minister for ecology and natural resources and a former oil exec - has taken over as the conference's chair. He told attendees "we are on the road to ruin"
• In some early positive news, countries agreed a long-standing sticking point in international climate negotiations - effectively allowing richer countries to make up for some of their atmosphere-heating pollution by investing in clean energy projects or forests in developing nations.
• The UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that 2024 is on track to be the world's warmest year on record
• The United States were in the limelight, following their elections which saw Donald Trump win the presidency. The US climate envoy said it was "bitterly disappointing" for those dedicated to climate action, but they will continue taking action with "commitment and passion and belief"
• And, in breaking news, our reporters paid £18 ($24) for soup, bean salad and a bread roll!

Alex Forsyth
Political correspondent

The prime minister has said he's not interested in telling people how to live their lives when it comes to addressing climate change.

The UK is anticipated to unveil ambitious new targets to cut emissions at the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, which are expected to set a goal of reducing emissions by 81 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2035.

Sir Keir Starmer said it would be a "difficult" but "achievable" target , but insisted it would not mean telling people what to do when it came to changing behaviour around things like heating or flights.

Speaking at the summit in Baku, he said: "I accept it's difficult target, it's an achievable target, but it's not about telling people how to live their lives – I'm not interested in that. I am interested in making sure their energy bills are stable, that we've got energy independence and that we also along the way pick up the next generation of jobs."

The prime minister said climate change was an important challenge but also the "single biggest opportunity" for the next generation, claiming there was a global race for future jobs in renewables that the UK could win.

Starmer said he "looked forward" to working with Donald Trump and other world leaders on the issue, and would not be drawn further on the US president-elect's views on climate change.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter

Image source, UNFCCC

It's day two of the COP29 climate conference and it already feels like we've been here a week!

Negotiations which normally don't start in force until later in the week went on late into the night, as countries managed to agree a long-standing sticking point in international climate negotiations.

In 2015 at the COP conference in Paris, countries agreed to establish a market of trading carbon emissions - effectively allowing richer countries to make up for some of their atmosphere-heating pollution by investing in clean energy projects or forests in developing nations.

But how to actually get the system to work has taken them nearly a decade to sort out.

That felt like a early win for the Azerbaijani leadership but not everyone is happy. We're going to bring you some reaction on those early talks later today.

There's no time to rest because today is the the start of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit.

Leaders from across the globe will descend on Baku to set out their countries' ambitions on climate change.

There will be lots of handshakes and one-on-one meetings, but crucially they'll have a few minutes to address the conference.

Expect some strong words, particularly from developing nations. We have previously heard anecdotes from Pacific islanders about seeing their homes washed away.

There are lots of leaders missing - in part due to Donald Trump's election in the US, which continues to overshadow the conference.

We're now pausing our COP29 live coverage until tomorrow morning but if you'd like to stay in the know, there's plenty more across the BBC to get you up to speed on this year's climate talks.

• For an introduction to this year's climate summit, you can read our explainer, or head here for a recap on what happened last year
• It is the second year in a row that a government official with a background in the oil and gas industry is in charge of climate talks
• Before the conference got under way the BBC reported that a senior official at COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan appeared to have used his role to arrange a meeting to discuss potential fossil fuel deals
• And the United States is under the spotlight following last week's presidential elections, which saw a win for Donald Trump - you can read more on what that might mean for US climate policy here