The plans and promises from the latest climate summit, and why they matter

Plus, photographers race to capture all we could lose to global warming.

View this email online by Christopher Dean Hopkins Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images Delegates to the COP26 climate conference are putting the finishing touches on new, more aggressive emissions goals for the world's countries. The agreement is expected to call for nations to stop using coal and subsidizing fossil fuels, and to to submit plans in the next year for reaching net-zero emissions. Two of the biggest emitters, China and the United States, also reached a surprise agreement to increase their cooperation on climate efforts, and there was a major deal to reverse deforestation. While nations' new pledges would be effective in limiting global warming, we've seen this before: Most have failed so far to fulfill their past promises, and few have concrete plans to meet the new targets.   Gautam Dey/AFP via Getty Images A number of nations will continue trying to have it both ways, signing on to ambitious agreements while defending their economies. Great Britain and India both plan to continue expanding coal extraction, and the United States is skittish about shrinking its oil industry too fast. Even Guyana, a sea rise-vulnerable South American nation, flipped its priorities when Exxon discovered oil offshore. Who pays? Pedro Ugarte/AFP via Getty Images And then there are the places where even agreement in principal is hard to find. Developing countries want richer ones to help them deal with the impacts of climate change. It's the wealthy nations' responsibility, they argue: They produced the vast majority of greenhouse gases, which one country's prime minister compared to a neighbor throwing trash in your yard. But richer countries have refused, and haven't fulfilled previous pledges to help poorer countries prepare. Read more about the issue or listen to the story.   The need has only grown more urgent Branden Eastwood/AFP via Getty Images Some impacts from climate change are already irreversible, and if it exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius — which as these charts demonstrate is near certain without big changes — there could be disastrous consequences. Coral could near extinction, enormous storms and brutal heat waves would become more common, and major cities and entire island nations could become uninhabitable.   The Picture Show Vlad Sokhin In the face of climate change, photographers around the world are rushing to capture all that could be lost. Vlad Sokhin spent eight years documenting the potential impacts across 18 countries. Ella Morton transforms images of at-risk Arctic and Subarctic communities into alien landscapes. See other photographers' urgent pictures from around the world. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). You received this message because you're subscribed to Best of NPR emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy