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The Archbishop of Canterbury has apologised for comparing a failure to tackle climate change to the failure to tackle the actions of Nazi Germany during an interview at the sidelines of the summit.

Justin Welby told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg that if world leaders failed to act, future generations would speak of them in "far stronger terms than we speak today of the politicians of the 30s, of the politicians who ignored what was happening in Nazi Germany".

He said they could be remembered for this fortnight alone and cursed if they didn't get it right.

But while he said he was consciously using strong words to show the gravity of the situation, he later apologised for referencing the Nazis as a comparison.

Writing on Twitter, external, Archbishop Welby said: "I unequivocally apologise for the words I used when trying to emphasise the gravity of the situation facing us at COP26.

"It's never right to make comparisons with the atrocities brought by the Nazis, and I'm sorry for the offence caused to Jews by these words."

Read more here.

The Queen has told world leaders at the COP26 summit in Glasgow that now is "the time for action" on climate change.

Speaking in a video message, she called on them to create a "safer, stabler future" for the planet.

Reality Check

Just four countries, plus the European Union, are responsible for most of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) - the most common greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.

All five signed the Paris agreement in 2015 to cut emissions to limit global temperature rises.

But what are they doing to cut emissions? Read more here.

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Senior members of the Royal Family are attending the COP26 summit in Glasgow this week.

Commuters at Glasgow's main railway station will have been taken by surprise as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stepped off a train from London on Monday.

Later, they added glamour - and media attention - to a series of events at the sidelines of the climate summit.

Prince Charles, who addressed world leaders earlier, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are also in Glasgow.

They are representing the Queen, whose plans to attend were reversed after medical advice to rest following a recent hospital stay.

Instead, the 95-year-old has delivered a pre-recorded video message from Windsor Castle, urging delegates to move from a "rise above the politics of the moment" and deliver action on climate change (see our earlier post)

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Brazil's pledge brings interest - and cautionpublished at 19:55 Greenwich Mean Time 1 November 2021

19:55 GMT 1 November 2021

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Most of the announcements from leaders so far have been heavy on rhetoric but light on new actions to cut carbon.

One of the most interesting so far has come from Brazil.

In a pre-recorded video, the Minister of the Environment, Joaquim Leite, announced Brazil would increase its goal of reducing emissions from 43% to 50% by 2030, reaching carbon net zero by 2050.

It also anticipated the end of illegal deforestation would come forward from 2030 to 2028.

A qualification though - Brazil’s emission reductions are calculated against levels in 2005. That baseline was retroactively revised down last year, making it easier for Brazil's targets to be met.

Experts will also urge caution, given Brazil's recent record on environmental protection.

In other developments, Germany’s Angela Merkel highlighted the need to put a strong price on carbon.

The outgoing chancellor praised the efforts of countries like Germany and the UK in funding South Africa’s transition away from coal.

But with coal set to be a major part of Germany’s energy mix for many years to come, critics might say this is a good example of paying others to do what you can’t do at home.

Fiji’s Frank Bainimarama lamented his country’s support for the goal set in the Paris agreement.

“What has that goodwill got us?” he asked. “We are losing to a coalition of carbon addicts.”

Matt McGrath has been covering climate change for the past 15 years, reporting from 10 COPs along the way.

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli energy minister Karine Elharrar has said she was unable to participate in today's events at the COP26 summit because it was not wheelchair accessible.

Reuters reports Elharrar told Israel's Channel 12 she could not reach the conference grounds because the only options to get there were to walk or board shuttle transport that was not suitable for a wheelchair.

Writing on Twitter, external, she said: "It is sad that the UN, which promotes accessibility for people with disabilities, in 2021, does not provide accessibility to its events."

She said hopefully lessons would be learned so that she could take part in the summit tomorrow.

The UK ambassador to Israel posted an apology to Twitter, external. Neil Wigan said he was disturbed to hear what had happened and added: "I apologise deeply and sincerely to the minister. We want a COP summit that is welcoming and inclusive to everyone."

The BBC has asked COP26 for comment.

The Queen has urged world leaders to create a "safer, stabler future" for the planet.

In a video message, she urged the COP26 delegates to "rise above the politics of the moment" and see the "time for words has now moved to the time for action".

She said "history has shown that when nations come together in common cause, there is always room for hope".

The 95-year-old monarch had been scheduled to attend the conference in Glasgow. But she pre-recorded her address last week at Windsor Castle after being advised to rest by her doctors following medical checks.

The Queen said: "It is a source of great pride to me that the leading role my husband played in encouraging people to protect our fragile planet, lives on through the work of our eldest son Charles and his eldest son William. I could not be more proud of them."

She added: "It is the hope of many that the legacy of this summit - written in history books yet to be printed - will describe you as the leaders who did not pass up the opportunity; and that you answered the call of those future generations."

Read more here.

Image source, NATASA LEONI/350.ORG

Samoan climate activist Brianna Fruean addressed world leaders at COP26 - she describes what it felt like to speak up for Pacific islanders:

I was a little bit nervous at first as I sat waiting to speak. I was thinking to myself: "Just breathe. Take it in. Everyone in the crowd is human. They're exactly like me."

When I walked out to deliver my speech, I knew where the Samoan delegation was sitting, so I tried to face them. But because they were under "S" they were a bit far back.

Then I looked to the front. I could see Sir David Attenborough and then I could see US President Joe Biden - those were the only two faces I could make out.

I told the audience: "We are not drowning - we are fighting."

Read more about Brianna's day at COP26

Tom Bateman
BBC Middle East correspondent

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You’ve probably heard by now that leaders of two of the world’s major emitters - Russia and China - are not attending COP26. But we can add another to the list.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier explained to reporters why he had not turned up in Glasgow, blaming restrictions put on the size of his security detail.

“We learnt that the [security] standards we requested, which were rejected, were provided exceptionally for another country,” he said.

Turkey had requested the same security protocol as US President Joe Biden, according to Middle East Eye., external

“We will not allow the dignity and honour of our country to be harmed,” Erdogan said as he flew back to Turkey from the G20 in Rome.

Last month, Turkey's parliament ratified the Paris climate agreement which aims to limit the global average temperature rise to "well below" 2C.

Other leaders not attending the COP summit include the presidents of Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Iran.

Georgina Rannard
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Lytton mayor Jan Polderman never expected to find himself on a global stage. But his small town came to symbolise a year of extreme weather when it recorded 49.6C (121.3F) in June, breaking Canada’s temperature records.

Then raging wildfires burnt the town down, killing two people. Of 100 buildings, just five or six were left.

“I’m 62. I always thought climate change was something facing the next generation,” Polderman explains on the phone. “Apparently that was not a correct assumption.”

“Start planning. Start doing. Take action" is his message to the leaders at COP26. And adaptation to a warming climate has to happen now, he says.

Speaking today, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remembered the tragic day that Lytton "burned to the ground" and warned that what happened in western Canada "can and has and will happen anywhere".

The rebuilding of Lytton is focused on protection against the next wildfires - which may burn even hotter.

“We’re asking, do we rebuild all the houses together? What type of shrubbery acts as fire-breaks? Can we put our electric cables underground?” says Polderman.

And he wants Lytton to be the first net zero town in the province of British Columbia - meaning it would stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Debbie Jackson
BBC Scotland

The stakes are high for many of the delegates attending from developing countries.

Representatives are expected to return from COP26 with tangible results - in the form of hard cash - and they feel the pressure.

Alfeus Vatilifa Shekunyenge is in Scotland on behalf of the Namibian government and is hoping to secure funds from different financing institutions.

India takes significant steppublished at 18:28 Greenwich Mean Time 1 November 2021

18:28 GMT 1 November 2021

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent

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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi used most of his time in front of his fellow world leaders to underline the need for lifestyle changes as the biggest solution to climate change.

But Modi saved his biggest news to the last minute - he announced that his country would adopt a net zero emissions target – by 2070.

This is quite a significant step for the world’s third-largest emitter, which still gets more than 50% of its electricity from coal.

It has to be tempered by the fact that the date is far past the mid-century goal for carbon neutrality that scientists say is necessary to avert the most dangerous levels of warming.

Other announcements give more credibility to his carbon cutting credentials.

He’s aiming to increase the share of renewables in energy to 50% by 2030, and to cut one billion tonnes of CO2 from the country’s emissions.

“India’s pledges are significantly more ambitious than its current NDC [declared targets],” said Ulka Kelkar, from the World Resources Institute, India.

She said they would "give strong signals to every sector of industry and society" but cautioned: "Meeting these targets will not be a simple matter and will require additional investments and supporting policies."

Matt McGrath has been covering climate change for the past 15 years, reporting from 10 COPs along the way.

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As world leaders gathered today in Glasgow, thousands of activists held their own gatherings in various protests around the Scottish city.

The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior has sailed up the River Clyde, with plans to dock near the conference venue.

Among the other gatherings was a group of environmental campaigners who had walked from Spain.

And of course the kind of protest lampooning world leaders that you'd expect at a summit like this.

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A Downing Street spokesman has defended Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to return home from the Glasgow climate conference by plane.

Johnson will be returning to London on a private charter jet when the leaders' conference section ends later this week.

Pushed on why Johnson would be opting for the climate-unfriendly option instead of a train, the spokesman said the PM faced "significant time constraints" as he moved around the country.

The private jet that will be used consumes a mix of "sustainable" aviation fuel, the spokesman said, and is one of the most carbon-efficient aircraft of its size.

"Our approach to tackling climate change is to use technology so that we do not have to change how we use modes of transport. Rather we use technology on things like electric vehicles so that we can still get to net zero," the spokesman said.

Shaimaa Khalil
Australia correspondent in Sydney

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Scott Morrison's speech appeared to acknowledge the challenges climate change has posed - including to his own country.

Australia’s unprecedented bushfires in 2019-20 were the starkest warning yet for the country as it experienced first-hand the consequences of a warming planet.

At the time, Morrison famously apologised for holidaying in Hawaii as the country burned.

He also faced a great deal of anger for playing down climate change.

Studies have shown that most Australians want climate action and that support increased after the bushfires.

But it’s a heavily politicised topic here. Partly this is about concerns in some electorates with carbon-intensive industries.

In one New South Wales town, Singleton, almost everyone is connected to coal - and suggestions about moving away from the fuel are causing concerns.

Despite a net zero commitment, Australia has no plan to limit fossil fuels – leaving it lagging behind its allies.

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Earlier, we heard a short address from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

He's reaffirmed Australia's commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, but the speech was otherwise short on detail.

The prime minister focused a great deal on the impact of science and technology, and said global efforts to fight climate change must be as focused as those tackling Covid.

"The challenge of combating climate change... will be met by those who frankly are largely not in this room," said Mr Morrison.

He said the path to net zero would be charted by "our scientists, our technologists, our engineers, our entrepreneurs, our industrialists and our financiers".

"It is up to us, as leaders, to back them," he added. "Cleaner technology solutions must out-compete existing technologies if they are to be successful."

There's been a lot to take in today. Here's a wrap-up of what's happened so far:

• After greeting around 120 world leaders Boris Johnson opened the conference, telling delegates that if the world did not "get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow"
• Renowned natural history broadcaster Sir David Attenborough told leaders "the world is looking to you" in an emotional speech
• US President Biden was one of the last to arrive after flying in to Edinburgh, he told the conference that "none of us will escape" if we "fail to seize the moment"
• Activist Greta Thunberg told youth protesters outside the venue that politicians were "pretending to take our future seriously"
• President Xi of China - the world's largest emitter of carbon - chose not to attend COP26 and instead sent a written statement with no new announcement
• In another blow to the conference, India committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2070. That's some 10 years after China and 20 years after the target set by the summit
• Elsewhere, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby apologised after making a comparison between a failure to tackle climate change and the failure to tackle the actions of Nazi Germany

Our planet has been warming rapidly since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

The average temperature at the Earth's surface has risen about 1.1C since 1850. What's more, each of the past four decades has been warmer than any that preceded it, since the middle of the 19th Century.

Greenhouse gases - which trap the Sun's heat - are the crucial link between temperature rise and human activities. The most important is carbon dioxide (CO2), because of its abundance in the atmosphere.

There's a way we can show definitively where this extra CO2 came from. The carbon produced by burning fossil fuels has a distinctive chemical signature.

Tree rings and polar ice both record changes in atmospheric chemistry. When examined they show that carbon - specifically from fossil fuels - has risen significantly since 1850.

Read more here.

As we mentioned earlier, China's President Xi Jinping hasn't been attending today's conference - in contrast to many of his counterparts.

But the Chinese leader has released a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

In it he's reaffirmed China's aim for emissions to peak in the country before 2030, and for carbon neutrality to be achieved by 2060.

But he has not said how China will achieve this.

According to Climate Action Tracker, an international group of scientists and policy experts, the country’s current actions to meet its commitments are "highly insufficient".

China is the source of more CO2 emissions than any other country - by some distance. In 2019 it emitted 11,535 megatonnes of carbon dioxide, more than double the figure for the US and more than four times the amount produced by any other individual nation.

And only the US has been responsible for more CO2 emissions than China in history.

But with China having the largest population, its rate of emissions per capita is not among the top 10 globally.

What's more, China is making a major shift towards green energy. Tsinghua University researchers say 90% of power should come from nuclear and renewables by 2050.

Image source, Getty Images

Speaking just moments ago, India's PM Narendra Modi celebrated his country's progress since the 2015 climate conference in Paris.

"Today the entire world acknowledges that India is the only big economy in the world that has delivered in letter and spirit to its Paris commitments," he said.

Modi then announced five major promises meant to reduce India's emissions, saying they represented an "unprecedented commitment by India" to address climate change.

1. India will increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500GW by 2030
2. India will fulfil 50% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030
3. By 2030, India will reduce its total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes
4. Also by 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity for its economy by 45%
5. Finally, as we already reported, India will achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2070