After a 2-year gap in between climate COPs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, negotiators arriving in Glasgow will be facing a series of questions. Sobering new assessments of countries' nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which map out their plans to slash emissions, show that current commitments will lead to global average temperature rise of 2.7 °C—a far cry from the 1.5 °C goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement and considered the best option for averting catastrophic damage.

Ramping up the ambition of new and updated NDCs will be key in Glasgow, as will another key area: climate finance. Developed countries have continued to fall short of meeting a decade-old promise to mobilize USD 100 billion annually by 2020 to help developing countries with their climate adaptation efforts. Also in the spotlight will be the ongoing negotiations on how to put into practice the Paris Agreement's provisions on carbon markets, along with a swath of agenda items on adaptation.

For a full overview of what to expect at COP 26, head over to our Earth Negotiations Bulletin website.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a message that was painfully clear: the climate crisis is here, and no country can escape its impacts. Nature, however, can be part of the solution. Nature provides valuable ecosystem services, from wastewater treatment to flood and drought protection, often at a lower cost than infrastructure built through traditional means.

To date, infrastructure investments have often gone to traditional, "grey" infrastructure because the valuations failed to account for the cost savings and additional benefits that nature can provide. From agroforestry projects in Belgium to tropical mangrove ecosystems in Senegal, our research is showing that nature is a crucial part of tackling our climate challenge. We need to invest in these solutions now to build a better future.

Since the early months of the pandemic, governments have been developing strategies for how to put a COVID-19 recovery into action. The phrase of the moment is "build back better"—to learn from the harsh lessons of the ongoing crisis and make sure that our actions can prevent even more painful crises further down the line.

The urgent threat of climate change is one of these crises, and current assessments of governments' spending plans for "building back better" suggest they do not go enough to support the transition to renewable energy sources. With G20 members responsible for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, what signal they send to the COP on climate action and fossil fuel subsidy reform when they convene for their own leaders' summit in late October could have a powerful impact on the work in Glasgow.

Over a decade ago at COP 15 in Copenhagen, developed countries signed off on a goal to "provide or mobilize" USD 100 billion annually in climate finance by 2020. These resources would go to developing economies as they worked to stave off the worst effects of climate change, improve their climate resilience, and slash their emissions.

This commitment was made back in 2009, and the Paris Agreement's Article 9.1 later reaffirmed that "Developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation in continuation of their existing obligations under the Convention." The parties also agreed that they would extend the period for providing this climate finance to 2025, and that before that time, they would "set a new collective quantified goal from a floor of USD 100 billion per year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries."

Fast forward to the year 2021, and the USD 100 billion annual target has not yet been met. Climate observers will be looking to the Glasgow conference to see what new commitments developed countries will make in this area, along with how negotiations to develop this new "floor" for climate finance will unfold.