There are calls for developed countries to do more to fund the fight against climate change as its effects threaten to impact poorer nations first.

"A lot of us that are going to be affected before Shanghai and Miami," the Barbados PM Mia Mottley said this week.

Looking back throughout history - or at least since reliable records began - the US, China and Russia are the top three polluters when it comes to CO2 emissions.

Emissions from richer countries rose sharply this year as countries saw a bounce-back from the pandemic.

China, India and Argentina are set to exceed their 2019 emissions levels in 2021.

You will have been hearing the term 1.5C a lot lately. That's because one of the main aims of COP26 is to get countries to agree to limit global warming to 1.5C.

Scientists tell us that keeping the rise below 1.5C - compared with pre-industrial times - will avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, but we're already at least 1.1C warmer so radical action is needed.

In 2015, world leaders agreed on some targets as part of the Paris climate accord - including aiming to keep global temperatures "well below" 2C above pre-industrial times and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C.

But we are way off track.

On current plans, the world is expected to breach the 1.5C ceiling within decades and to hit 2.7C of warming by the end of the century.

Scientists say there simply isn’t time for inaction if 1.5C is to be achieved, while some believe we've already left it too late.

Image source, PA Media

US climate envoy John Kerry says that current commitments to cut carbon emissions mean the world has a 60% chance of capping a rise in the average temperature at 1.5C.

Scientists say limiting the rise to 1.5C will avert the worst effects of climate change.

Kerry told a breakfast event that, with the latest commitments, around 65% of global GDP was now covered by implementable climate change plans.

"But that means 35% isn’t. And we can’t do it without that 35%," the Reuters news agency reported. "You don’t get this done unless we are all in."

On Tuesday, China's climate envoy Xie Zhenhuan said that aiming to limit the temperature rise to 1.5C rather than the 2C target agreed in Paris in 2015 would be "destroying consensus". He called for countries to be pragmatic and take concrete actions.

The Paris agreement saw countries pledge to limit global warming to well below 2C, preferably to 1.5C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

As we've been reporting, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said developed governments are going to meet their six-year-old promise to send $100 billion (£73bn) a year to developing countries to tackle climate change by 2023, three years behind target.

"While we know we are not yet meeting it soon enough, we will work closely with developing countries to do more and to reach the target soon," he told the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

As our Reality Check colleagues note, it is quite hard to calculate what money should be included in the overall figure, because it is a complicated mix of money from governments, international lenders and private companies.

But the UN and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimate that by 2019 the figure had reached just over $79bn, only a small increase on the previous year, and failing to reach the $100bn a year target by 2020.

It is also important to stress that the majority of this finance comes in the form of loans - not grants - so developing countries will need to pay it back.

A global climate summit - not the place for fun and games, you might think.

But at COP26, even playgrounds have an environmental theme.

This bouncy castle removes carbon and particulate matter from the air and releases oxygen in its place.

We're not sure if any politicians have given it a go.

But these local schoolkids certainly had a good time.

Image source, PA Media

Today is all about finance at COP26 and as the host nation it was UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak who got things under way.

If you missed his speech, he said that the challenge facing finance ministers is to "direct the world's wealth to protect our planet" - deploying investment from both public and private sources.

According to Sunak, there are three main strands to the approach:

Public investment - Sunak says developing countries have been devastated by the "double tragedies of coronavirus and climate change". He says that the G20 will step up to deliver $500bn of investment to the countries that need it most over the next five years. The G20 is also renewing its pledge of $100bn a year to help developing nations - although Sunak says this is not happening as soon as it needs to.

Private investment - Sunak says COP26 has seen private institutions with assets worth $130tn create a "wall of capital for the net-zero transition around the world".

Greener financial system - Sunak goes on to say that the entire global finance system will be rewired for net zero. This will involve better climate data, sovereign green bonds and mandatory sustainability disclosures. He says the UK is playing its part and says the UK will become the first ever net-zero aligned financial centre. He says it will become mandatory for firms to set out how they plan to decarbonise and transition to net zero with and independent taskforce to monitor this.

Image source, getty/peter summers

We've just heard COP president Alok Sharma telling global finance leaders they need to be "the new Swampies".

If you are not fully clued-up on 90s eco-warriors, Swampy - whose real name is Dan Hooper - was active in a number of environmental protests in the UK.

He became widely known in 1996 after spending a week in a series of tunnels dug in the path of a new extension to the A30 in Fairmile, Devon.

His newly-found fame even led to guest appearances on TV shows, and his less than traditional hairstyle made him easily recognisable.

Image source, PA Media

Now aged 48, he last hit the headlines in 2000, when he was charged with trespassing after he and eight other protesters were removed from a tree on the HS2 high-speed train route.

They had set up camp in a tree house in Jones' Hill Wood in Buckinghamshire.

There needs to be a "wholesale transformation" of our carbon intensive economies - a cost of between $100tn and $150tn in the next decades, the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tells COP26 delegates.

She says the US is "stepping up" - increasing international climate finance to more than $11bn by 2024. And she confirms the US intends to support the climate investment funds capital markets mechanism - which aims to bring together private finance and investment for clean technology.

She warns the gap between what governments have in funding and what is required "is large" and says the old belief that the planet must be brought before profit is now not necessarily true.

"In many cases, it is simply cost effective to go green," she says.

Double Olympic sailing gold medallist Hannah Mills knows how hugely influential sport is in the UK, and around the world.

So, could that influence be used in a positive way when it comes to tackling climate change? This is what she has to say...

"I'm at COP26, doing all I can to add my voice, and those of fellow Olympic athletes, to calls for immediate and radical action on climate change.

"Winning Olympic gold medals has given me a platform to talk about the issues that I care about.

"I would not have enjoyed that without my sporting success.

"I can imagine some readers rolling their eyes and asking what right I have to lecture them about the environment just because I can sail a boat?

"It's a fair challenge, but not one I shy away from."

Read more from Hannah here.

Alok Sharma, the COP26 president, takes to the podium next and delivers a short speech by remembering the action taken by climate protester Swampy in the 1990s.

He tells the gathering of global finance leaders: "You, my friends, are the new Swampies."

The urgency of the situation has been made worse by the global pandemic, he says, and he calls on richer countries to follow through with their investments in solving climate change.

He says there is "some confidence" a pledge of $100bn of public funding will be unlocked by 2023 - with $500bn between 2021 and 2025 - less than the $100bn a year that was hoped.

He says there have been "new climate finance commitments from the UK, Japan, Australia, Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg".

"I believe we're on the cusp of a new era," he says, where richer countries and companies finance key measures that will make a difference to tackling climate change.

Closing his speech, the UK's chancellor refers back to the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which you can read more about here.

Sunak says: "Six years ago, Paris set the ambition, today in Glasgow we are providing the investment we need to deliver that ambition."

He says that means not just numbers on a page but making a "tangible difference" to people's lives.

He says it is about things such as cheap electricity to power schools and hospitals in rural Africa, better coastal defences in the Pacific Islands and about "everyone everywhere having fresher water to drink, cleaner air to breathe, better insulated homes in which to live".

"That's the vision we're asking you to commit to, that's the opportunity we are asking you to invest in and that's the work we are asking you to begin today," he concludes.

We've got a bit more from the UK's chancellor.

Sunak champions the investment of private finance - and says the Glasgow summit has brought together institutions with assets worth over $130tn. He says this is a "historic wall of capital for the net zero transition around the world".

He calls for action to invest this in a low carbon future and for confidence and clarity in the climate impact of the investments.

He says the entire global finance system will be "rewired" for net zero.

What does he mean by this?

In his words: "Better and more consistent climate data; sovereign green bonds; mandatory sustainability disclosures; proper climate risk surveillance; and proper global reporting standards."

Sunak claims the UK is leading the world on these measures - and will become the "first-ever net zero aligned global financial centre".

Rishi Sunak says that he knows that developing countries have been hit by the "double tragedies" of coronavirus and climate change, which is why the G20 countries - the 20 biggest economies in the world - are going to step up to meet the target to provide $100bn of climate finance to developing nations.

That target was set in 2015.

Sunak says that they will work hard to meet that target sooner and, over the next five years, will commit to delivering $500bn investment to countries that need it most.

He adds that the UK will commit £100m to a taskforce helping countries to access finance.

Image source, PA Media

Sunak begins by saying it is easy to feel daunted by the scale of the world's climate challenge.

But he says he is optimistic because the Glasgow summit "is the first COP" to bring together leaders of finance and businesses to "direct the world's wealth to preserve our planet".

He says the challenge is to deploy investment - both public and private - to deliver climate targets around the world.

After a dramatic montage complete with ticking clocks, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has begun his speech at COP26.

He's expected to set out the UK's plans to become the world's first net-zero financial centre.

You can follow updates from what he has to say here.

Image source, Alamy

There has been criticism of the number of world leaders and other delegates who have travelled to the COP26 summit in private jets.

Flight data shows there have been about 182 such flights into Glasgow, Prestwick and Edinburgh airports since 27 October, roughly double the total for the previous six days.

That excludes some national chartered flights, such as President Biden's plane, Air Force One.

How much environmental damage do they do - and did leaders have any choice?

Our Reality Check team has been taking a look.

Faisal Islam
BBC Economics Editor

Image source, Reuters

Follow the money to net zero. That is the plan, with two-fifths of the world's financial assets, $130tn, under the management of banks, insurers and pension funds that have signed up to 2050 net-zero goals including limiting global warming to 1.5C.

This means that the giant laser beam of global finance will be fired towards technologies that lower and eradicate carbon emissions, and away from "brown holdings" of investments in coal, oil and gas.

But can such fundamental ecological, economic and social change really be achieved more through financial carrot than by regulatory stick? This position suits politicians who don't necessarily want to tell their voting public to consume or travel less than they are used to.

By changing the financial system, their hope is that the trajectory of every economic sector, from energy to transport, food to clothing, how we live, work and what we consume will decarbonise of their own accord.

• Read more from Faisal

Delegates at COP26 have been given a flavour of the carbon footprint of their meals at the summit. But can we really reduce emissions through our diet?

Switching to a plant-based diet can help fight climate change, according to a major report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which says the West's high consumption of meat and dairy is fuelling global warming.

So should there be limits on eating meat?

We've taken a look and answered some of the other questions you have too.

Image source, reut

As we've been reporting, today is finance day at the COP26 summit. The world's finance leaders will gather to discuss how we can afford the push to net zero.

Among them is UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak - who is due to speak at around 09:00 GMT.

We're expecting to hear him outline how UK companies will soon need to highlight how they plan to achieve net zero by the UK's target date of 2050.

Sunak will outline the move as part of a bid to make the UK the first net zero financial centre.

He will say advances have been made to "rewire the entire global financial system for net zero" under the UK's leadership of the conference.

It's already been broadly welcomed by some green groups - but the Green Alliance says the plan will not happen fast enough.

You can read more about what he's expected to announce here.

Thousands of scientists, leaders, delegates and journalists from all over the world have converged on Glasgow for COP26.

Their discussions on climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will take place behind closed doors in Glasgow's SEC Centre.

So what's it like inside? The BBC's science editor, David Shukman, went to take a look.