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First Thing: world leaders agree to end deforestation and slash methane emissions
Historic declaration at Cop26 commits countries to reducing major causes of CO2 emissions. Plus, the end of the avocado
Politics
World leaders have agreed a deal that aims to halt and reverse global deforestation over the next decade as part of a multibillion-dollar package to tackle human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
Xi Jinping, Jair Bolsonaro and Joe Biden are among the leaders who will commit to the declaration at Cop26 in Glasgow today to protect vast areas.
Meanwhile, Biden will try to underscore his green credentials by unveiling an action plan to control methane, regarded by the administration as the single most potent way to combat the climate crisis in the short term.
Leading an alliance of 90 countries, including for the first time Brazil, he will set out new regulatory measures today to limit global methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by the end of the decade.
Major producers and consumers of deforestation-linked commodities including Indonesia, China and Brazil have put their name to the deforestation deal, which aims to curtail the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
The detailed US proposals on methane gases may prove to be one of the lasting successes of Cop26 in Glasgow where Biden will announce his action plan.
On Monday, Biden urged other world leaders to embark upon a shift to clean energy and vowed that the US will ‘lead by example’.