Esme Stallard
Climate change reporter at COP27

The busiest and most electric pavilion does not belong to a country, but the Children and Youth Pavilion.

This is the first time there been a dedicated space for young people and it is packed.

Teenagers sit in circles talking passionately about climate change – and they know what they’re talking about.

Dishi Ravi, a 24-year-old climate activist for Fridays for Future, from India, said that the pavilion has “become a safe space for all of us”.

She said its important for young people to be included at COP27: “We were born into this climate crisis. We have contributed very little to it but we are already experiencing the impacts first hand.”

Evelyn Acham, an activist from Kampala, Uganda, agrees. She explains that she knows children who have dropped out of school and been forced into child marriages because their schools have closed from flooding.

She wants to see developed countries meet their previous promises and also develop quicker ways of getting finance to those in need.

But Ravi is not convinced that leaders are listening. She tells me: “They want to showcase that they are having us involved by giving us this youth pavilion... but is it actually letting us speak truth to power? There is no one in power here… they don’t think it’s important enough. The pavilion can sometimes feel like a tokenisation.”

A final bit from Kenya's president, who tells his fellow world leaders: "This is our golden chance to vindicate present generations who look to us to lead the way in preserving our planet."

Wrapping up his speech on behalf of the African Group, William Ruto says: "The way things are, we might never have a more opportune time, and there might never be a better chance."

More from Kenyan President William Ruto now, who says the lengthy discussions at various COP summits, each with "stalling and delaying tactics", have hampered the implementation and delivery of pledges and agreements in the past.

"We cannot afford to spend more time skirting around the real issues and we must break out of the open-ended discussions we are trapped in," he says.

"Further delay will make us busy spectators as calamity wipes out lives and livelihoods."

He says loss and damage are the "daily experience" of Kenyans and hundreds of millions of Africans.

The issues should be addressed with a level of seriousness which demonstrates "fairness urgency and consideration", pointing out that Africa contributes less than 3% of greenhouse gas pollution,

He says he wants to showcase opportunities in Africa for green energy, smart agriculture, electric vehicles and green building, with the aim of zero carbon by 2050.

Ruto says he will convene a climate summit for the continent next year.

Image source, COP27

Next up, is Kenya's president William Ruto, who is representing the African Group of countries.

He says humanity is confronting "unprecedented devastation on a global scale".

Up to 700 million people in Africa will be displaced due to water stress by 2030, he says.

Outlining the impact of climate change in Africa, Ruto says 2.5 million livestock have died in Kenya this year alone, many children have dropped out of school due to drought, and Kenya's world-renowned wildlife heritage has not been spared either.

In the past 50 years, drought-related hazards have killed half a million people, he says.

Tackling climate change will require world leaders to take action on a global level. But as individuals we also contribute to damaging emissions. Here are some things you can do to reduce your personal impact.

• Insulate and draught-proof your home, install a heat pump, switch to a green energy provider or just turn down the heating a degree or two
• Reduce your food waste and cut down on red meat - livestock are responsible for 14% of all greenhouse gases globally
• Drive less, and fly less - transport is responsible for almost a quarter of carbon dioxide global emissions
• Think before you buy - whether choosing energy efficient appliances or buying second-hand clothes

Read more here: Four things you can do about your carbon footprint

Image source, .

Image source, EPA

Having trouble getting your head around all the climate terminology?

Help is at hand…

Greenhouse gas emissions: Release of gases which cause climate change - via the greenhouse effect which traps the sun’s heat in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) released from burning fossil fuels, is the most important greenhouse gas.

Methane - natural gas - and nitrous oxide, which is released from fertilizer use, are others. They are released in smaller amounts but have a more powerful warming effect.

Net zero: In simple terms, reaching net zero means getting to a point where you are not adding to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It can be achieved by reducing greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and balancing out any that remain by removing an equivalent amount - either through natural means, like trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, or using technology. Many countries, like the UK, have set targets of reaching net zero by 2050.

NDCs: Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) were at the heart of the 2015 Paris Agreement. They are the commitments, or pledges, by each country - under the Paris pact - to reduce their own national emissions. Many countries submitted more ambitious pledges at the Glasgow COP26 summit last year.

There's more from Emmanuel Macron now, who has turned to the issue of climate justice.

The French president says confidence in world leaders cannot crumble when it comes to climate change - and urges world leaders to avoid "division" over the environment and other issues such as war.

"We must come to terms with the concept of financial solidarity," he says - before urging countries to do what they committed to 12 years ago: help channel $100bn a year to less wealthy nations to help them adapt to climate change.

He says UN countries are currently closer to the $50bn mark - but this can change.

"Beyond these figures, we must have specific actions... and come up with partnerships that will deliver this [climate] justice," he tells COP27.

He welcomed the "courage" of developing country leaders who have pushed forward the debate on loss and damage funding.

Macron said he wanted to see work to "change the rules" of international banks - such as the IMF - to provide more funding for vulnerable nations.

More from France's President Emmanuel Macron.

Rich countries, especially European countries including France, must abide by their national strategies to reduce emissions, Macron said.

Plans to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 should be based on "energy sobriety" and the accelerated development of renewable energies and solutions that will help transition from fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

He also says we must not forget this battle against climate change is linked to the fight for biodiversity.

He says nature is our best ally to achieve targets.

The countries that have biodiversity reserves, marine or land-based, have incalculable carbon resources, and they must be helped to bring nature-based solutions to the fore, he says.

France will not be supporting any seabed exploration, he adds.

Image source, COP27

French President Emmanuel Macron has just finished speaking, he says the world should not sacrifice its climate commitments because of Russia's war in Ukraine.

"Russia's aggression against Ukraine has not only brought the war to European soil but it has also brought uncertainty and tension to the world," he says, bringing "difficulty upon difficulty" especially to the African continent and around the Mediterranean.

He says the Ukraine crisis - which came just a few months after the Covid pandemic - would lead many to say they have other priorities to focus on.

"But at the same time we see many states being affected by the consequences of the unravelling of the climate, and we must show that the climate emergency is well and truly here."

He says the world's climate commitments should not be sacrificed, especially for rich countries including France.

"We must continue to work on the mitigation front and we must transition our economies away from coal," he says, adding that helping developing countries do this must also be a priority.

Image source, COP27

The President of Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, says his wish for this summit is that good decisions and pledges are followed by "concrete actions instead of another set of promises that will take too long to materialise".

Speaking at the summit, he says he extends his support and solidarity to "all nations that have experienced the terrible effects of climate change lately. We stand by you as you mourn those who have disappeared, and as you rebuild your towns and villages".

He says many young people are asking whether COP is "a counting game: 26, 27, 28". Or whether it is a real countdown to saving our planet?

"My wish and prayer is that we leave Sharm El-Sheikh... with a peace pact with our planet," he says.

He adds that the Seychelles' contribution to the destruction of the planet is "minimal, yet we suffer the most", with its islands" disappearing" and coastal areas under threat.

Despite this, he says the Seychelles is pledging to further contribute to the protection of all its carbon-abosrbing mangroves and sea grass meadows by 2023, adding to its mitigation of climate change.

Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon, has just been speaking at COP27.

He tells the summit says Gabon's deforestation rate has remained below 0.5%.

"We are probably the most net carbon positive country on Earth," he said.

He said since making a strong commitment to fighting climate change, Gabon has absorbed 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, in reference to the forest that covers some 90% of the country.

The country hopes to continue absorbing over 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and to remain carbon neutral beyond 2050.

"We are part of the Congo Basin, often referred to as a second lung of the planet," he adds.

Image source, Reuters

We’ll hear a lot about money at this climate summit, especially about the controversial topic of loss and damage.

Poor countries want more money to help them deal with climate change - and funding is split into three areas:

• Mitigation: This is money to help developing nations move away from fossil fuels and other polluting activities. Many countries still have coal power stations that are yet to reach the end of their lives. They need support to build clean energy infrastructure, such as solar farms, to replace them.
• Adaptation: This is money that goes towards helping developing nations prepare for the worst effects of climate change. It covers things like building stronger flood defences, relocating populations at risk and distributing crops that are more resilient to dry spells.
• Loss and damage: This is not agreed and remains highly controversial. The money would go towards helping developing countries recover from the impacts of climate change they are already suffering. Developing nations want guaranteed compensation from developed countries - who they say are historically responsible for climate change. However, developed countries consider this a red line - and say that to agree would be admitting liability for the disasters.

We also keep hearing about the $100bn pledge. In 2009, richer countries agreed to provide $100bn (£88bn) a year to developing nations for climate action by the end of 2020. By the end of that year the total had only reached $83.3bn (£73.21) but the goal is expected to be reached in 2023.

Read more from our climate reporter Esme Stallard: Will richer nations hand over the cash?

Image source, .

We've just heard from UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who's been speaking to reporters at COP27.

He says he is committed to the £11.6bn international climate fund that was pledged by the government last year, but says it's possible the plan could take longer than the five years originally planned.

He says "we remain committed" to the pledge and have seen the benefits such international climate finance can bring to countries around the world.

Asked whether it would still be done within five years, he says that is the plan, but that the exact time frame always depends on the projects "being ready at the right time".

Asked how he feels about former Prime Minister Boris Johnson attending the summit, he says he thinks it's "great" that he is here, as it demonstrates the UK's leadership in tackling climate change with both a current and a former prime minister attending.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter

Image source, Xiye Bastida

Xiye Bastida, a 20-year-old activist from Mexico, says she’s at COP27 to tell the world that nature must be protected.

Her hometown near Mexico City was flooded when she was 10. She’s from the indigenous nation Otomi-Toltec and was raised with the values of protecting nature and the Earth, as well as humans.

It’s her third COP, and she thinks youth are much better represented now:

“I understand the negotiations better now - we know how to get items on the agenda, she says.

She’s pleased with progress so far in Egypt - including getting those words “loss and damage” on the agenda. They refer to money - as some form of compensation or reparations - for the effects of climate change on countries that did little to cause to the problem.

“Those three words can make the difference between whether my home is protected or not,” she says.

Image source, PA Media

It's just approaching 17:00 in Sharm El-Sheikh and speeches have just restarted at COP27 after a break for lunch. Let's have a look at the key events of the day so far.

• Former UK PM Boris Johnson called on world leaders - including the man now in his old job - to resist going weak on net zero commitments
• Many countries, like the UK, have set targets of reaching net zero by 2050 but there are doubts over whether that'll happen. You can read more about that here
• In his speech, UN Secretary General António Guterres warned that the world's "on a highway to climate hell" - blaming growing greenhouse gas emissions and rising global temperatures. "The clock is ticking," he told the audience. "We are in the fight of our lives and we are losing."
• Global temperatures have increased by 1.1C since pre-industrial times, and scientists believe that going beyond 1.5C would see dangerous impacts for people all over the world. But experts say that if we continue with current policies we are on track for about 2.7C of warming.
• Barbados PM Mia Mottley, meanwhile, spoke of "horror and the devastation" experiences from floods in Pakistan, to heatwaves in Europe and China, to impacts in her own region

Coming up later, we're expecting to hear from French President Emmanuel Macron and new UK PM Rishi Sunak - as well as the president of Kenya speaking on behalf of a group of African nations, and some small island states including as Tonga and Kiribati.

Stay with us for live updates.

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent at COP27

Keeping the global temperature rise since the pre-industrial era to 1.5C is a key target, and something constantly talked about at climate conferences like COP27.

But if you ask a climate scientist for a private opinion on 1.5C they will tell you that this key threshold will be toast sometime very soon.

The UK’s Met Office says there’s a fifty-fifty chance that one of the next five years including this one will break that limit.

By the mid 2030s, breaching 1.5C might be happening all the time. But when it comes to politics, and COP27, the 1.5C idea is in much better shape.

Image source, .

It hardly existed as a concept idea before the Paris agreement in 2015 - but the support of developing countries in reaching that deal, hinged on its inclusion.

Island states and emerging economies argue that letting temperatures rise above this level threatens their existence, through sea level rise.

Since Paris, science has shown that it truly is the threshold for extremely dangerous warming for all, even as we come ever closer to passing it. Perhaps, more importantly, this commitment to keeping temperatures under 1.5C is the proof that we are all in this together, rich and poor alike.

While China has grumbled, pointing out that the Paris pact also has "well below 2C" as a goal, expect strong support for the idea of 1.5C at COP27 – if not for the stronger action to really keep it alive.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter

Image source, Sohanur Rahman

Young activists like Greta Thunburg often speak brutally about climate summits - a refreshing change from the language of politicians, some say.

She’s not at COP this year, but plenty of campaigners from the hardest-hit communities have gone to Sharm el-Sheikh.

"I am from a coastal community where cyclones and storm surges are frequent - we are facing climate disasters every year," explains 26-year-old Sohanur Rahman who is from Bangladesh.

“We are the generation that will be hit hardest by climate change,” he says.

Sohanur echoes the call from many young activists that the developed world must pay compensation to poorer countries who are suffering the most from climate change.

“Climate-vulnerable countries such as Bangladesh should not bear the brunt of the climate crisis alone,” he says.

I spoke to Sohanur last November when COP26 ended - a year later, I ask what has changed. “Nothing,” he replies.

We keep hearing about the struggle to limit climate change to 1.5C, but why does it matter?

We know that human activity has had an impact on our planet's climate. Our industrial development - burning fossil fuels which expel gases like carbon dioxide - has led to global average temperatures increasing through a greenhouse effect known as global warming.

This is tracked with an overall figure for how much higher on average global temperatures are than in pre-industrial times. They are already about 1.1C warmer. It might not sound much, but it varies widely and some places, such as the Arctic, are warming much faster.

For decades scientists considered 2C to be a“safe” limit, but in 2018, the UN’s scientific body, the IPCC, revised this to 1.5C - and with climate change already worsening heatwaves, storms and droughts around the world, many would say there is no such thing as a “safe” limit.

Image source, .

The latest IPCC report from February this year says many impacts of global warming are already “irreversible”, 40% of the world's population are now "highly vulnerable" to climate, and that extreme weather events linked to climate change like floods and heatwaves are hitting humans and other species much harder than previous assessments indicated.

And it says that if temperatures rise to between 1.7 and 1.8C above the 1850s level, half the human population could be exposed to periods of life-threatening climatic conditions arising from heat and humidity.

Under the Paris Agreement in 2015, countries agreed to aim to keep temperature rise “well below” 2C and to aim for 1.5C.

Chris Mason
Political editor, reporting from COP27

Image source, WPA

This was Rishi Sunak's first morning of in-person international diplomacy as prime minister.

A return trip to the sands of Egypt lasting a little over 24 hours; meetings in the last few hours with the European Commission, the president of Kenya and the new prime minister of Italy, among others.

This afternoon, Sunak will meet President Macron of France. The impression Downing Street seeks to leave is one of being reliable, conventional partners on the world stage, with a seriousness of purpose and intent. The implied contrast with what came before is obvious.

Meanwhile, the prime minister before last is here too. Boris Johnson's turned up in what he describes as a "purely supportive role" and to insist the promises at the last COP Summit in Glasgow are honoured.

From Sunak on policy specifics, we await detail. Will previous pledges to help poorer countries develop more cleanly be honoured? And in his meeting with the French president, what concrete plans can be agreed on people crossing the Channel in small boats?

Image source, PA Media

Nicola Sturgeon is among the many dignitaries gathered in Sharm El Sheikh for the UN Conference.

Speaking earlier to the BBC, Scotland's first minister called on countries in the developed world to recognise their responsibility to those nations already feeling the impact of climate change.

"What I hope to see at this COP is a grown-up, adult conversation about this issue for the first time in 30 years.

"Climate change is having these impacts in the here and now and it is devastating.

"It's not just the economic impact, there are parts of the world where their ways of life are being completely changed.

"Cultures and traditions are being seriously damaged and the richest parts of the world have an obligation in my view to help those countries deal with the loss and damage, as well as continuing support for adaption and mitigation.

"One of the big problems in terms of trust here is the commitment to $100bn a year in climate finance hasn't yet been delivered."

Sturgeon subsequently outlined a proposal to aid vulnerable countries in an interview with Sky News, saying that "further financial commitment to loss and damage" is set to be announced by her government.

She added additional money will look "in particular at non-economic loss and damage that many countries are suffering."