COP26 RECAP: Greta Thunberg labels summit 'a failure' at panel hosted by Emma Watson | LA Mayor tests Covid positive after attending summit | Nicola Sturgeon defends Scotland's emission targets

Follow along here for all of Thursday’s COP26 updates as day four of world leaders gathering to tackle the climate emergency gets underway.
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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has defended the country’s ambitious targets to reduce emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 at an event during COP26.

Chief executive of the committee of climate change Chris Stark said the Scottish Government may have “overcooked its emission reduction targets, particularly the 75 per cent number” in an interview with BBC Scotland last week.

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Ms Sturgeon responded saying the targets were “ambitious” but she would much rather be “criticised on being over ambitious than under ambitious.”

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COP26 RECAP: Greta Thunberg labels summit ‘a failure’ at panel hosted by Emma Watson | LA Mayor tests Covid positive after attending summit | Nicola Sturgeon defends Scotland’s emission targets

COP26: Covid fears for 'more than 100' police officers at climate summit

More than 100 police officers on duty at the COP26 climate change summit have been taken off frontline duties amid a Covid-19 outbreak scare, it is claimed.

The Scotsman understands the officers are not from Police Scotland, but were drafted in from other forces across the UK to boost the numbers available to event commanders.

The Scottish force has cited “operational reasons” for refusing to divulge the number and status of those affected. However, multiple sources maintain that as many as 103 are affected.

COP26: Leonardo DiCaprio meets Prince Charles at Stella McCartney exhibition

Push to end coal use unveiled at Cop26 but warnings over ‘glaring gaps’

Countries are setting out efforts to end coal power after 250 years at Cop26 – but concerns have been raised about the absence of major polluters in the move.

The push at the crucial conference in Glasgow comes as scientists warn that carbon emissions from fossil fuels look set to rebound to close to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 – and could even rise further in 2022.

Initiatives being announced on Thursday include a UK-led coal-to-clean power transition statement committing countries to ending all investment in new coal power generation domestically and internationally and rapidly scaling up deployment of clean power generation.

Boris Johnson reportedly left COP26 on a private jet to attend dinner in London

Boris Johnson reportedly flew out of the COP26 climate summit on a private jet to attend a dinner with former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore.

The Daily Mirror says the Prime Minister left the conference in Glasgow at 6.20pm and arrived at London Stansted at 7.16pm, before heading to the private men-only Garrick Club for a dinner for former Telegraph journalists.

The fashion of Mr Johnson’s exit was criticised as “staggering hypocrisy” by Labour chair Anneliese Dodds, after the Prime Minister opened the summit by imploring delegates to stop “quilting the Earth in an invisible and suffocating blanket of CO2”.

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Protesters target Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s official residence in Edinburgh as climate talks continue in Glasgow

Protesters have bared all as they targeted First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s official residence in Edinburgh to call for action to save the world’s oceans from environmental damage.

The protest, which is demanding an end to destructive fishing methods, coincided with high-level negotiations taking place in Glasgow at the United Nations climate summit COP26.

Slogans in English and French were projected on the facade of Bute House, in the capital’s Charlotte Square.

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