Thank you for joining us for today's rolling coverage of COP26.

It was edited by Paul Gribben. Our writers were Doug Faulkner, Bryn Palmer, Kelly-Leigh Cooper and Marie Jackson

We'll be back again tomorrow - when the day's theme is youth and public empowerment.

As young protesters gather in Glasgow, we will be hearing directly from inspirational activists and young people already experiencing the effects of climate change. And we'll be joined by Maisie and Nel, two BBC Young Reporters who will be with us as special guest journalists for the day.

Image source, PA Media

Here's a reminder of what has been happening today at COP26 - where there has been a focus on energy.

• More than 40 countries agreed a pledge to shift away from coal but some of the world's major coal burners, including the US and China, did not sign up
• Critics said that because of that, the announcement fell short of what is needed
• However the US, Canada and the UK were among the signatories to a joint statement on ending international public financing for fossil fuels , external
• COP26 president Alok Sharma said coal was "no longer king" but admitted more needed to be done
• The influential International Energy Agency said that promises made at the conference would keep the world to a 1.8C degree rise in temperatures
• However that would depend on all promises being kept and delivered - which experts say is far from certain
• Climate activist Greta Thunberg meanwhile doubled down on her criticism of COP26, accusing it of "greenwashing" and "business as usual"
• Extinction Rebellion activists protested outside arms company BAE Systems and government offices in Glasgow as part of their latest march

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Packham, the environmental campaigner and presenter of the BBC's Springwatch series, has visited COP26 and says the host country should "get rid of highly polluting, nasty salmon farms".

The industry is said to be worth more than £1bn a year to the economy, with hundreds of thousands of fish raised in pens suspended in the open sea lochs around Scotland's west coast and the Northern Isles.

The pens keep the fish - fed on processed feed - enclosed but they allow parasites to get in, with thousands of tonnes of waste getting into the surrounding water.

Asked what more Scotland could be doing in the fight against climate change, Packham told BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime programme that "there are obviously elephants in the room while there are salmon in those cages off the west coast".

He called for the industry to be "transitioned out" with investment so that people can be "retrained into jobs that are far more harmonious and sustainable".

Sameer Hashmi
Middle East Business Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Last month, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, announced that the country had set a target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2060.

For a long time, the world’s largest oil exporter had resisted calls from Western countries to set a definite target to reduce carbon emissions. But, even as the Saudis seek to achieve that target, they are boosting their oil production capacity to cater to global demand.

The country’s top officials have repeatedly said that tackling climate change is necessary, but that it cannot be done by “demonising” hydrocarbons. The energy minister believes that the world needs both fossil fuels as well as renewables.

On the face of it, the kingdom has set an ambitious plan to eliminate 278 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2030, up from a previous target of 130 million tonnes. It would involve investments of $190bn (£139bn) during that period.

But the task is not going to be easy. Saudi Arabia earns more than half of its revenue from oil exports. Although the crown prince is trying to promote economic diversification by investing in new industries, it is going to take time for them to start contributing substantially to the economy.

Image source, Reuters

Google tells us that a lot of people seem to be searching online to find out when COP26 finishes.

Well, there's quite a while left yet.

Today is the fifth day of the conference, which will run up until Friday, 12 November. (But if previous COPs are any guide negotiations might carry on into the weekend.)

Each day has a different theme with today's focus being energy and the transition to greener economies.

All countries face problems getting their emissions down but China has the biggest challenge.

Per person, China's emissions are about half those of the US, but its huge 1.4 billion population and explosive economic growth have pushed it way ahead of any other country in its overall emissions.

While more than 130 countries have pledged to reach net zero emissions before 2050, China has said it's aiming for "carbon neutrality" by 2060. It hasn't set out exactly what this means or how it will get there.

Russia has also pledged to reach net zero by 2060, although its draft commitment hasn't been legally ratified. Until recently President Vladimir Putin dismissed the risks posed by rising temperatures.

India set a net zero target for the first time at COP26, with a promise to cut emissions to net zero by 2070.

Image source, PA Media

There is a focus on youth at COP26 on Friday - ahead of that, some activists have been speaking today at a New York Times fringe event.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and fellow campaigners Vanessa Nakate and Leah Thomas called for world leaders to listen to marginalised women and people of colour who are on the front line of the climate crisis.

Yousafzai, a Pakistani education activist, said environmental catastrophes, including droughts and floods, affected education and so were not separate issues.

Speaking via video-link she said: "The consequences of climate change are not equal. Some of us are more vulnerable to the climate disasters than others."

Nakate, a climate activist from Uganda, said she does not accept that praise for young campaigners from politicians is genuine. "They're are making us responsible - if it doesn't go well, then we failed to do it," she said, adding that she was putting the responsibility back on them.

Image source, Kakembo Galabuzi Brian

BBC Minute has been speaking to Kakembo Galabuzi Brian, a young entrepreneur from Uganda who’s at COP26 calling for more investment in clean energy projects in developing nations.

"We need to present the community with better solutions," the 27-year-old says. "It’s very important to do it now before all the resources run out and the Earth suffers."

His youth-focused project turns farm waste into fuel used for cooking - trying to "replace firewood, so we can keep the trees standing".

Kakembo’s eco-friendly work earned him the accolade of Commonwealth Young Person of the Year in 2020.

He argues that it’s hypocritical for wealthy nations to expect poorer ones to switch to green energy sources unless they curb their own use of fossil fuels - and offer a helping hand.

“There is no way you can tell the Ugandan government not to explore oil unless you give them an incentive not to. So climate finance is a really big deal for us.”

We mentioned earlier about criticism of the organisation and inclusivity of the COP26.

Now Greta Thunberg, arguably the most well-known climate activist in the world, is doubling down on her criticism of the event.

She describes the conference as the "Great North greenwash festival" in a tweet on Thursday.

The comments come a day after a video emerged of her walking out of a panel on carbon offsetting - something she and other activists says "give polluters a free pass to keep polluting".

BBC Reality Check looked at the issue earlier this year - you can watch their explainer here.

Helen Briggs
BBC environment correspondent in Glasgow

Suggestions that warming could be limited to slightly under 2C if countries were to fully deliver on their commitments to reduce emissions should be treated with caution, according to two leading climate experts.

Number-crunching of revised pledges made in the run-up to Glasgow suggest these could put the world on track to limit global warming to 1.8 or 1.9C.

But Dr Carl Schleussner, of Climate Analytics, says even under the most “optimistic” scenarios, governments are not yet delivering in terms of “closing the gap in the near term”.

And Prof Simon Lewis, of UCL, says with some targets for peaking emissions set so far into the future, governments' commitments “need to be taken with a pinch of salt”.

The UN recently predicted that the world was heading for a temperature rise of 2.7C, based on an analysis of pledges made for 2030, excluding those in recent days. If you include net zero commitments made by some countries from 2050 onwards, this falls to 2.2C.

The predictions by the IEA and by a group of scientists in Australia are based on revised emission plans that have come in recently from a number of countries, including India, which aims to peak emissions in 2070.

Thursday marks day five of the UN climate conference in Glasgow.

Here are some images of the week so far:

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Image source, Getty Images

Rebecca Henschke
Asia editor, BBC World Service

When Indonesia, home to some of the world’s most carbon-rich forests and peatlands, signed up to a deal to halt and reverse deforestation, it was seen as a significant step forward.

But now the country's environment and forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar has released a statement on social media, external saying that Indonesia "can’t promise what we can’t do".

She said forcing Indonesia to commit to "zero deforestation in 2030 is clearly inappropriate and unfair". Despite President Joko Widodo signing the forest deal, she said that development remained the country’s top priority.

Minister Nurbaya argued that the country’s vast natural resources must be used for the benefit of its people and cited the need to cut down forests to make way for roads.

Image source, Getty Images

Controversial road projects in remote areas of Borneo and Papua have opened up previously untouched rainforest and lead to a spike in illegal logging.

Indonesians have responded negatively to the minister's social posts commenting that it’s often big businesses that profit off deforestation while local people are left to deal with floods and landslides.

One user wrote: "Let’s destroy all the forests, to get money minister. Then we might have money to pay for oxygen.”

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News, London

Image source, Amy Scaife

You might not think of climate protests as all-singing all-dancing - but for one activist group, that’s exactly what they are.

The group, BP or Not BP, specifically protest against oil companies giving large donations and sponsorships to cultural institutions like galleries, museums and theatres - something they say is a way for oil companies to enhance their reputations.

Their first protest almost 10 years ago, in April 2012, was at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Since then they’ve done 62 "protest-performances" - including wheeling a large Trojan horse into the lobby of the British Museum for the museum’s Troy exhibition in February 2020.

Image source, Hugh Warwick

And in that time, several institutions have ended their relationships with oil companies - including Tate, the British Film Institute and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

BP boss Bernard Looney responded to the protests last year when he set out an ambition for the oil company to "reimagine energy".

“Many question our motives in supporting the arts," he said. "I get that.

"We are taking steps to more firmly and visibly align our intentions with our actions and become much more transparent.”

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Image source, PA Media

As we reported earlier, Poland has pledged to phase out coal by the end of the 2040s, reaffirming last year’s agreement with trade unions to close down the last pit by 2049.

The country’s abundant Silesian coal reserves have long fuelled the economy and generate around 80 per cent of its electricity. But Polish power generators must now pay for their CO2 emissions, and rising carbon costs have rendered many plants unprofitable.

After years of defiantly championing its black treasure, Poland is now investing in renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and seeking EU funds to gradually close down its mines and retrain its workers.

The country now has one of the fastest growing solar energy markets in the EU, largely due to homeowners like Michal Dera.

He replaced his electric heating system at his home in Bedzin near one of Silesia’s coal-fired power plants with a heat pump and installed solar panels to generate electricity.

Helen Briggs
BBC environment correspondent in Glasgow

Organisation of the Glasgow summit has drawn complaints, with grumbling over the long queues to get in and restrictions for observers following the negotiations.

“The worst COP ever,” said one COP veteran, Kenyan policy expert Mohamed Adow. Some even went as far as to invoke the spectre of Copenhagen, the climate talks that ended in disaster in 2009, haunted by images of delegates queuing outside in the snow.

On my journey through the Blue Zone, my fellow queuers were fairly sanguine.

Austin, from Edinburgh, had anticipated queues and felt things were running smoothly. Inside, a member of Ghana’s delegation blamed the queues on strict security due to Covid, while a delegate from Tanzania said she was more concerned over restrictions that limit the number of people from each country attending meetings.

Others are less sympathetic. Dr Kat Kramer, Christian Aid’s climate lead, with 10 COPs under her belt, calls this the “least inclusive” COP ever. She says restrictions on civil society observers following the negotiations needs to be fixed “to ensure vulnerable communities on the frontline of this crisis are fully represented”.

And there’s not enough seating or power points, she says, and much longer queues than previous summits. “Basic logistics have been a shambles,” she adds.

On Wednesday, we reported that the UK's longest lasting patch of snow in the Highlands of Scotland has just disappeared for "only the eighth time in 300 years".

BBC Young reporter Sofia, who knows that area well, has been looking into the impact of less frequent snowfalls on the hills.

She's been talking to people around Aviemore in the Cairngorms to find out their concerns about having less snow and fewer snow days - and what that means for the planet.

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The joint statement on ending public financing for fossil fuel overseas, external may only have the support of around 20 countries, but the fact that the US, the UK and Canada are among them gives it weight.

Funding will be removed from all “unabated” oil and gas developments from the end of next year. This means that there will be no cash for oil, gas and coal projects unless they capture and bury the CO2 emissions that result from the burning of the fuel.

Right now the countries involved are spending around $18bn (£13bn) a year supporting fossil fuels abroad.

There are some notable absentees, though. China, Japan and South Korea are the world’s biggest financiers of overseas oil and gas and are not among the signatories.

As well as the financing of fossil fuels, there’s also been a flurry of announcements here today on coal.

Image source, Getty Images

While a lot of the talk at COP can feel abstract, the matter of coal is hitting home for one part of the UK.

A new coal mine in Cumbria, in north-west England, could bring hundreds of well-paid jobs to the area - if it goes ahead.

Right now the decision lies with planning inspectors but could fall into the hands of ministers. Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, has said he doesn't want it to go ahead, telling COP26 he was "not in favour of more coal".

But Labour, the opposition party, has said the unresolved matter of a new UK coal mine is hampering the government's case at COP.

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour party leader, said: "Our ability to argue on the world stage that we should stop using coal is undermined by the government not, or at least flirting with the idea of opening a coal mine in Cumbria which would be a completely wrong step."

The UK should be moving ahead quickly towards safe, secure forms of energy, like hydrogen and wind, he said in an interview with BBC Radio Two's Jeremy Vine show.

Read more on the controversy around the Cumbria coal mine here.

Image source, Getty Images

Air pollution kills more than seven million people a year, Dr Jeni Miller of the Global Climate and Health Alliance tells the BBC, so phasing out fossil fuels and moving away from coal is a "fantastic first step".

Climate change is taking its toll on so many of us, physically and mentally, she says, pointing to heatwaves in Canada, wildfires in Australia and flooding in Mexico.

She adds that young people's mental health is being affected by the worries around climate change and those caught up in extreme weather were often left with PTSD.

If the issue is not tackled, it's a fairly dire scenario, she warns, but if they can be addressed, there are benefits for us all.

Image source, PA Media

We've already heard from COP26 president Alok Sharma today and now he is giving a press conference.

He says that "coal is no longer king" following the pledge by more than 40 countries to phase it out as a fuel.

Sharma says that coal financing has "been well and truly choked off".

But he says that despite the progress "challenges are emerging" as negotiators seek to formalise pledges - but he adds "this is par for the course".

Sharma tells the press conference the transition from coal to clean energy "must be just" and says that so far through COP26 around $18bn have been pledged to help deliver this transition.