Cop26: New commitments could limit global heating to 1.8C – day four live

The Irish government has unveiled its sector-by-sector climate action targets involving what environment minister Eamon Ryan said will be “the defining challenges of our time”.

By 2030, it wants greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 51% with target reductions ranges as follows:

• Electricity: 62-81%
• Transport: 42-50%
• Buildings: 44-56%
• Industry/Enterprise: 29-41%
• Agriculture: 22-30%
• Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry: 37-58%

The cornerstone of the policy is to increase the proportion of renewable electricity to up to 80% by 2030, including an increased target of up to 5 gigawatts of offshore wind.

Ryan said he thought transport would be the hardest target to meet but spoke of plans to change the entire police fleet to electric cars as a way of accelerating public attitudes to EVs.

He also spoke of “district heating at scale”, with a target of providing 8% of heating in these micro-networks.

Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, confirmed that Ireland would look at a scrappage scheme for car and van owners to achieve the target of 1m electric vehicles by 2030, something that had been ruled out previously.

Ministers did not comment on a recent KPMG report that suggested more than 1m of the 6.5m cattle herd would have to be culled to meet a 30% reduction in the agriculture sector.

Indigenous leaders from West Papua, home to one of the largest and most diverse rainforests, have launched the world’s first “green state” at Cop26.

The contested Indonesian province declared a provisional “government-in-waiting” last year and promised to implement environmental and social protections with respect for the natural world.

Today it released its Green State Vision. It includes a three-point plan to try to prevent climate collapse. The plan pledges to:

• Make ecocide a serious criminal offence.

• Restore guardianship of natural resources to Indigenous communities.

• Serve notice on oil, gas, mining and logging companies to adhere to international environmental standards or cease operations.

Exiled leader Benny Wenda, interim president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua and Provisional Government, said: “We are fighting for stewardship of one of the planet’s largest rainforests, a lung of the world. If you want to save the world, you must save West Papua.”

Jennifer Robinson, a barrister at the UK’s Doughty Street Chambers, who helped to draft the Green State Vision, said: “Ensuring West Papua’s right to self-determination will ensure the protection of the environment and the climate by allowing the Indigenous custodians of the land to take back control, protection and management of their resources.”

Joe Biden, who urged world leaders at Cop26 to confront the “existential threat” of the climate crisis, is increasingly viewed as something of a hypocrite by climate campaigners in Glasgow, who hit out at his US administration today.

A large banner reading No New Federal Fossil Fuels was unfurled by activists outside the summit ahead of an appearance today by Deb Haaland, Biden’s interior secretary. Protestors are furious that Haaland’s department has been handing out oil and gas drilling permits at a rate of more than 300 a month, with an auction of 80m acres – an area larger than the UK – set to be leased this month to fossil fuel companies seeking to exploit the Gulf of Mexico.

Separately, environmental groups ran an advert in The Herald, Scotland’s largest daily newspaper, today urging Biden to reject a slew of proposed gas pipelines and plants. Fossil fuel activity on US public lands is responsible for around a quarter of the planet-heating emissions coming from the world’s second-largest carbon polluter.

“President Biden’s refusal to halt federal fossil fuel expansion is an inexcusable climate atrocity that makes a mockery of US climate goals in Glasgow,” said Ben Goloff, a senior campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re out of time. The president must use his executive authority to halt fossil fuel extraction on public lands, declare a climate emergency and make renewable energy available to everyone.”

I’m just about to hand over to my colleague Oliver Holmes, who’ll be manning the liveblog all afternoon. We’ll keep an eye on Insulate Britain, and see how much longer they stay in Parliament Square.

And we’ll also carry on following energy day at Cop26, where ministers are talking about their plans and hopes for a just energy transition. Sounds as if there will be some interesting announcements this afternoon. Thanks for following along with us!

Indigenous people from Alaska to Patagonia are at the Tramway on the south side of Glasgow to discuss sustainable climate solutions based on centuries of indigenous knowledge, spiritual customs and traditions.

It’s an event organised by the Minga movement, an Indigenous solidarity network in the Americas who refuse to participate inside the official Cop talks and negotiations. They are aiming to call out false climate solutions like net zero and carbon markets. The climate crisis cannot be solved through further exploitation and marketisation of natural resources, they argue, as that’s what has led to the climate breakdown communities are starting to experience.

More than 130 Indigenous youth and elders, from the Mixtecas of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, to Mapuches from Chile are here with the Minga collective, being hosted by local families, solidarity groups and churches. They all bring personal stories about the impact of land loss, water shortages and forced displacement, which they say will get worse if world leaders forge ahead with climate actions such as carbon capture and mass reforestation.

“Putting a price on natural resources is an act of colonialism and inhumanity. But there is another way,” said Calfin Lafkenche, a Mapuche organiser.