Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter

Image source, KIMBERLY HOANG/ SAVE THE CHILDREN

It is no surprise that climate anxiety is rising, particularly among young people, who have mostly only known a world affected by climate change.

But experts and activists have told BBC News that these fears can actually be good news for the planet.

"People who are really aware of climate change may be more motivated to take action," University of Bath environmental psychologist Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh says.

When people talk about their own climate anxiety, they often say it is linked to the vast amounts of negative news about the planet.

"I think it's hard not to worry about climate change. We're constantly bombarded with news articles and social media about how it's just crisis after crisis - ice caps melting, disasters - it can be very overwhelming," explains Roisin, 16, from County Antrim in Northern Ireland.

Roisin is on the youth advisory board of Save The Children, which recently found that 70% of children in the UK worried about the world , externalthey are inheriting.

But she says there is hope too: "You can always see young activists like Greta Thunberg, and people like David Attenborough taking action on it."

• Read more: Climate anxiety is rising - it might be a good thing

Esme Stallard
Reporting from COP27

Image source, Sean Gallup

It was difficult not to feel a little heartbroken when hearing climate activist Leah Namugerwa address COP27 earlier, ahead of the leaders' speeches.

She spoke of the depressing reality of growing up in Uganda, a country at the forefront of some of the effects of climate change, and of seeing flash floods and landslides kill people she knew growing up.

Amongst the grandstanding and posturing by leaders of their efforts on climate she brought a reality check to the room.

But she wasn’t just here to slap leaders on the wrist. She spoke of her own efforts - planting trees for her community from the age of 15.

She asked the audience: “I have a goal of planting one million trees or more, what is your goal?”

And those were the words ringing in our ears as the leaders began to take to the stage.

Chris Mason
Political editor, reporting from COP27

A quick update on loitering for Boris Johnson. Yes, that's the prime minister before last, who has turned up here at COP27 at the invitation of the Egyptian government.

What on earth is he doing here? And is he a backseat driver?

Almost all former prime ministers end up causing their successor grief, either by accident or otherwise.

Johnson insists he is here to prevent backsliding on the promises made at the last COP in Glasgow when he was prime minister.

As has been the story of his career, he causes a soap opera - and that's precisely what happened as this backbench MP turned up for the opening ceremony, again at the invitation of the Egyptians.

After his speech here, a collection of us reporters tried to ask him some questions. It became something of a rolling maul, his security staff manhandling us out of the way and Johnson attempting to manhandle most of our questions out of the way too.

So is he a backseat driver? I asked plenty of times, but didn't get a direct answer.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter

Image source, Viktoriya Ball

Two Ukrainian youth climate activists have been telling me why they’ve travelled to Egypt for this summit.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed Europe’s fossil fuel “addiction”, explain Viktoriya Ball and Valeriia Bondarieva.

Europe’s heavy use of Russian oil and gas has meant that even during the war in Ukraine, billions of euros have been paid, external to Russia as energy prices fluctuate.

“We want countries to end blind financing of conflicts through fossil fuel money,” they say, calling for the European Union to embargo all Russian fossil fuels and for a “complete exit from Russian energy markets”.

Image source, Viktoriya Ball

Viktoriya and Valeriia were environmentalists before the war, but they say their work has “unprecedented urgency because this is now a fight for the Ukrainian lives lost every day”.

For many Ukrainian climate activists, the struggle to tackle climate change and the fight to end the war in their country are now the same thing.

The PM of Barbados asks the assembled leaders in front of her, how much more must happen?

"The global south remains at the mercy of the global north," Mia Mottley continues, saying it has been difficult for her country to get its hands on things like electric cars and batteries compared to others.

"This world looks still too much like it did when it was part of an imperialistic empire. The global north borrows at interest rates between 1-4%, the global south at 14%. And then we wonder why the energy partnerships are not working."

Image source, COP27

Barbados PM Mia Mottley is now speaking at COP27 in Egypt.

She begins by saying that she doesn't need to go over the "horror and the devastation wreacked upon this Earth over the course of the last 12 months".

She adds: "Whether the apocalyptic floods in Pakistan, or the heatwaves from Europe to China, or indeed in the last few days in my own region, the devastation caused in Belize by tropical storm Lisa, or the torrential floods a few days ago in St Lucia. We don't need to repeat it."

Instead, she says: "What we do need to do, is to understand why we are not moving any further.

"1.5 to stay alive cannnot be that mantra and I take no pride in being associated with having to repeat it over and over and over. We have the collective capacity to transform."

She was a powerful voice at COP26 in Glasgow last year saying that 2C of warning would be a "death sentence" for island nations.

Image source, COP27

The former vice-president of the United States, Al Gore, has just been speaking at COP27.

"We have a credibility problem, all of us," he says, referencing developed nations' pursuit of gas resources in Africa. "We're talking, and we're starting to act, but we're not doing enough.

"We have to see the dash for gas for what it really is, a dash down a bridge to nowhere, leaving the countries of the world facing climate chaos and billions in stranded assets, especially here in Africa."

He says: "It is a choice to continue this pattern of destructive behaviour. But we have other choices."

Image source, Reuters

UN Secretary General António Guterres has warned: "We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator." But what does that mean? Here's where things stand in terms of the numnbers.

Global temperatures have already 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.

Under the Paris Agreement in 2015, countries agreed to aim to limit the temperature rise to 1.5C. But there is "no credible pathway in place” to stay within that target, according to a recent UN assessment.

If we carry on as we are, with the current policies in place, we are on track for a 2.7C increase by the end of the century, according to the Climate Action Tracker website.

Image source, .

Under the UN process, countries have to make pledges on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions they will cut. Current pledges take us to about 2.4C of warming, Climate Action Tracker said after last year’s Glasgow summit.

Some countries have set themselves, or are discussing, longer-term net zero targets. Even under the most optimistic scenario where these are taken into account, Climate Action Tracker estimates we would still see 1.8C of warming by 2100.

If the outlook seems bleak, it’s worth remembering that when the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, we were on track for 3.6C of warming, so progress has been made.

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg will not be attending COP27 as she believes the climate summit is a form of "greenwashing".

Speaking to Radio 5 Live's Nihal Arthanayake last week, she said the conferences are "designed in a way that allows and even encourages countries, nations, and world leaders to use loop holes in these schemes to benefit themselves".

She added countries are greenwashing themselves by "deciding on small, symbolic, very distant commitments that they then very often fail to reach".

Image source, Reuters

Richer countries should pay for the loss and damage suffered by those most affected by climate change, climate activist Mitzi Jonelle Tan says.

Tan, who is the international spokesperson of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines, says the global north, multinational companies, and the fossil fuel industry have caused "destruction" in the lives of many across the world.

"The people in the global south, like the Philippines, are already suffering the most from the climate crisis and they need to pay for that," she tells BBC Radio 5 Live.

But she says it's difficult to decide how much money should be provided.

"In 2009, $100bn was promised and that's not even enough. But yet that hasn't even been reached," she says.

"And what we're seeing now with climate finance is most of it is in the form of debt. What we need is grants and not loans."

Image source, COP27

The President of Senegal and President of the African Union, Macky Sall, has just been on the COP27 stage.

Addressing the leaders, delegates and ambassadors present, he says COP27 is an opportunity for both developed and developing countries to either "make history" or "be a victim of history".

He says Africa is a force driving low carbon development, despite the fact that the continent contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gasses.

But he adds it is "those who pollute the most" that "should pay the most in order to get our planet off this track of climate crisis".

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter, reporting from COP27

Despite the stark warnings from the UN, developing nations and even Boris Johnson this morning about the poor state of climate action, there have been some successes this year.

Renewable energy continues to grow at lightning pace - the International Energy Agency predicts by 8% this year. This is impressive considering the downturn in the global markets.

There have been new climate targets from Australia, India, and Indonesia in the last couple of months - although yesterday the new COP27 President, Sameh Shoukry, lambasted countries for repeatedly developing targets without turning them into action.

Whilst at the conference, loss and damage has made it on the agenda for the first time. Agreeing what to talk about might not seem a big deal. But it is an acknowledgement from richer nations that developing countries need financial support for the impacts of climate change they are already facing.

There are notable absences of leaders here, but a new leader that delegates will be happy to see is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He will be replacing Jair Bolsonaro as Brazil’s president and has promised to provide new protections to the Amazon rainforest, which has seen an increase in deforestation of 48% in the last year, external.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Guterres carries on by saying there is no adapting to the growing catastrophic events causing suffering around the world.

He stresses loss and damage "can no longer be swept under the rug".

Developing countries that contributed the least to the climate crisis are blindsided by the impacts "for which they had no warning or means of preparation".

Guterres calls for a universal early warning system within five years and for governments to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuels companies.

"Let's redirect that money to people struggling with food and energy prices, and to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis," he adds.

UN Secretary General António Guterres is next on the stage.

"The clock is ticking," he tells the audience. "We are in the fight of our lives and we are losing.

"Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing, global temperatures keep rising, and our planet is fast approaching the tipping point that will make climate chaos irreversible.

"We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator."

He adds the war in Ukraine and other conflicts have had "dramatic impacts" all over the world, but "we cannot accept that our attention is not focused on climate change".

The Egyptian president closes his speech by stating there must be enough time to ensure climate agreements are implemented.

"There is no time to slip back, there is no space for hesitation," he says, adding this is a "unique historical moment" where countries around the world can meet their responsibilities and achieve their goals.

"Implementation, implementation, implementation," he says, repeating the strapline coined for this COP summit.

"I wish you every success during your work," he adds, addressing the attendees of the conference.

He ends his speech by appealing for the war in Ukraine to end.

More now from President Sisi.

He says people across the world want "rapid, concrete implementation" of actions to reduce emissions to guarantee funding for "developing countries who today are suffering more than others the consequences of these crises".

Despite all of the challenges and difficulties, there are rays of hope, he says.

"Because humanity surely can be just to those who are not responsible for the consequences that are producing so much suffering," he adds.

He says every government must work to the extent of its ability to provide solutions.

Egypt has established ambitious climate change goals and is "determined" to accelerate its use of green resources and an economy with low carbon emissions, he says.

Image source, EPA

The President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, is making his opening remarks at the COP27 summit.

He starts by welcoming everyone to the conference, where he says countries will "work hand-in-hand" to tackle "one of the most urgent issues the planet faces" - climate change.

He says the city where the conference is located, in Sharm El-Sheik, is the first Egyptian city to go through the beginnings of a green revolution.

He adds that we all share one planet, one future, one goal and one hope - but says the world is facing "one catastrophe after another" and "the planet has become a world of suffering today".

Away from the centre of the action at the COP27 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, alarm bells are being sounded over the fate of the climate.

Prof Hannah Cloke, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, has previously said "history will judge us to be the most pathetic, short-sighted and stupid generation that ever lived if we continue to ignore the evidence of that catastrophic man-made climate change".

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme this morning, she says she's "at a loss" as to what to do to try to impress on people the gravity of the effects of climate change.

She says that as a climate scientist, people tell her to "stick to the facts, don't frighten people, don't give your opinion".

But she says she has had enough of doing that: "Us scientists, we've been doing that for 30 years now, with increasing alarm. We just don't have this widespread action that's needed.

She says she is very worried that the world may not meet the target of stopping global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5C: "I think most climate scientists are incredibly worried that we're not going to make it."

She adds, however, that she believes governments have the technologies and the skills to fix the climate crisis.

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.

Image source, .

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) are at the heart of the Paris Agreement. They are the commitments by each country to reduce their own national emissions.

We're getting pictures in now of the world leaders at COP27 gathering together to pose for the traditional family photo.

They will soon begin negotiations on climate action at the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Here's a selection of images from the scene:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters