The Cop26 summit began in Glasgow on Sunday. Here’s what happened:
President takes the seat
UK politician Alok Sharma officially assumed the role of Cop26 president, taking the gavel and presiding duties from Chile’s Carolina Schmidt Zaldivar, with a warning that the conference was the last best chance to keep global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Mr Sharma said the world would succeed or fail as one, as he urged countries to make Glasgow the conference that delivered on commitments to curb warming made in the global Paris climate accord, agreed to in 2015.
The heat is on
As the conference opened, the World Meteorological Organisation warned that the past seven years have been the hottest on record, with sea levels rising to new highs and climate-related destructive weather in 2021.
This year is likely to have been the fifth to seventh hottest year on record, due to the 'La Nina' weather phenomenon in the Pacific, which has a cooling effect on global temperatures.
But the world still averaged 1.09°C above pre-industrial levels.
Covid-19 precautions
The conference, delayed a year by the pandemic, is a Cop like no other, due to the continuing threat of Covid-19.
Delegates must wear masks, observe social distances and take daily lateral flow tests before attending.
There are also room capacity limits and access to the overall venue could be limited at busy times.
Holding the conference while the pandemic continues has raised concerns from some quarters about access and transparency, but Mr Sharma has said it is important to hold direct negotiations among countries.
About 21,238 party delegates, 13,834 observers and 3,823 media representatives have registered for the conference.
Tree blocks rail from London
Hundreds of passengers hoping to travel to Glasgow were left stranded at London’s Euston station after a fallen tree halted rail services.
Many others were caught on slow-moving or stationary trains, or forced to book domestic flights to reach the summit.
Travellers acknowledged the irony of being delayed by extreme weather and said it was both “inconvenient” and a reminder of the effects of climate change.
Youths plan to sail in
Choosing another route to get to the summit, Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior is planning to sail up the River Clyde carrying youth strikers from communities most hit by climate change to demand world leaders “stop failing us”.
The group said it had been warned by port authorities not to sail up the Clyde to the conference, but it would still attempt the journey, arriving on Monday afternoon.
Name written in ice
A glacier in Antarctica has been formally named after the city of Glasgow to mark its hosting of Cop26.
The Glasgow Glacier is one of nine areas of fast-flowing ice in the Getz basin in the west of the continent to be named after locations of major climate treaties, conferences and reports.
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Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
It’ll be summer in the city as car show tries to move with the times
If 2008 was the year that rocked Detroit, 2019 will be when Motor City gives its annual car extravaganza a revamp that aims to move with the times.
A major change is that this week's North American International Auto Show will be the last to be held in January, after which the event will switch to June.
The new date, organisers said, will allow exhibitors to move vehicles and activities outside the Cobo Center's halls and into other city venues, unencumbered by cold January weather, exemplified this week by snow and ice.
In a market in which trends can easily be outpaced beyond one event, the need to do so was probably exacerbated by the decision of Germany's big three carmakers – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – to skip the auto show this year.
The show has long allowed car enthusiasts to sit behind the wheel of the latest models at the start of the calendar year but a more fluid car market in an online world has made sales less seasonal.
Similarly, everyday technology seems to be catching up on those whose job it is to get behind microphones and try and tempt the visiting public into making a purchase.
Although sparkly announcers clasp iPads and outline the technical gadgetry hidden beneath bonnets, people's obsession with their own smartphones often appeared to offer a more tempting distraction.
“It's maddening,” said one such worker at Nissan's stand.
The absence of some pizzazz, as well as top marques, was also noted by patrons.
“It looks like there are a few less cars this year,” one annual attendee said of this year's exhibitors.
“I can't help but think it's easier to stay at home than to brave the snow and come here.”
