On day five of the global climate summit, COP26, the focus is on energy and how the world can move away from fossil fuels.

However, while more than 40 countries commit to shifting away from coal, huge users and producers like China, India, Australia and the US don’t sign up.

No fewer than 190 countries and organisations have promised committed to move away from coal.

Promises made at COP26 would limit global warming to 1.8C, says the influential International Energy Agency

The meetings in Glasgow come against the backdrop of a global energy crisis, with gas prices surging amid the pandemic recovery.

COP26 president Alok Sharma says the “end of coal is in sight” but more work needs to be done.

To keep warming limited to 1.5C by 2100, carbon emissions need to be slashed dramatically by 2030, scientists say.

But major oil and gas producers plans to continue mining and drilling are incompatible, the UN has found.

Global carbon dioxide emissions set to rebound to pre-Covid levels, study finds.

But some positive news coming this morning from the influential International Energy Agency, a body that advises governments about energy.

It has crunched the numbers from promises made at COP26 and calculated that the world will keep to a 1.8C degree rise in global temperatures if all the pledges are carried out.

Remember, the core goal of this summit is to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C (in order to protect us from the worst effects of climate change) – but before COP26, we were warned that the planet is on track for a 2.7C degree increase.

The IEA says that the pledges to reduce methane emissions and reach net zero made in Glasgow have pushed us closer to a 1.8C degree rise.

IEA President Fatih Birol called these results “a big step forward”, adding “much more needed”.

Of course, countries must deliver on their promises for this prediction to be a reality. (BBC)

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