UN COP26 Summit Begins In UK's Glasgow Amid Growing Climate Change Threat

The biggest hurdle facing COP26 may be the outcome of the G20 meeting of major economies in Rome this weekend, where leaders backed a 1.5-degree Celsius limit on global temperature rise but offered few new concrete commitments to achieve it.

With the UK hosts warning that "lights are flashing red on the climate change dashboard", the COP26 UN climate summit kicked off on Sunday in Glasgow, marked by pointed warnings of growing threats as emissions-cutting pledges still fail to add up.

"I do not underestimate the challenge" of reaching an effective deal to adequately slash emissions, Alok Sharma, Britain's COP26 president, told delegates at the talks' opening. But, he added, "I believe that we can resolve the outstanding issues." 

Heavy rain poured down in Glasgow on the first day of COP26, and a fallen tree blocked train lines from London, forcing some red-faced delegates into last-minute flights or rental cars. 

Others struggled to master the phone apps governing a daily coronavirus testing regime for attendees, some of whom showed up to the venue of one of the first major international gatherings since the start of the pandemic with negative tests in hand.