Cop27 day two: world leaders get their say on the climate crisis – live

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Andrzej Duda, president of Poland, tells Cop27 that Poland is a “model” of sustainable development, which will surprise some in Europe who have long witnessed the coal-rich country fighting tougher climate action.

At least he didn’t mention coal. Cop24 in Katowice, Poland, was infused for two weeks by the smell of burning coal.

Duda also says: “Let us not be hypocrites – it is easy for rich countries to boast of our action.” He says if manufacturing has moved to other countries, the importing countries still bear some responsibility. “There is just one climate.”

Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, president of Zimbabwe, is wearing a colourful scarf in his country’s national colours. The air conditioning is ridiculously cold in the plenary hall.

He calls for African unity at COP27: “We must speak with one voice [and] act as a block of climate victims. Only then are we likely to carry the day and secure a healthy planet for present and future generations.” There is disagreement among African nations over the development of new oil and gas fields.

Climate finance is critical for progress at COP27 – see this piece – and Mnangagwa says: “Those mostly responsible for the climate crisis must listen and prioritise climate finance.”

Cop27 has been termed the African Cop – but we have reported on the difficulties some African activists have faced in attending the summit. And yesterday our video reporter in Sharm el-Sheikh, Nikhita Chulani, spoke to the Ugandan activist Nyombi Morris who was turned away from the talks.

When 24-year-old Ugandan activist Nyombi Morris arrived in Egypt for the Cop27 climate summit he was turned away from the high-level talks because he did not have the right accreditation. Only country delegates and some members of the press were allowed in the events for heads of states and government officials.

“Why are we here?”, asked Nyombi, adding that the world leaders and negotiators who are currently deciding how far to push climate action need to quickly change the way they work and who they listen to, saying right now he doesn’t think it is right to truly call this an African Cop.

“You have to frontline the voices of African youth activists, because these are the innovators. These are the ones implementing actions, not our leaders, our leaders are just always in the office, but you are excluding us. So it is time to understand that this event is in Africa. We need to give African voices a chance … We cannot lead without knowledge.”

Watch a video of the interview here.

The speeches by leaders have begun, with Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, kicking off with a legal warning to rich countries who have not provided adequate climate finance to date. “We will fight unrelentingly for climate justice,” including in the international courts, he said. Browne speaks for the Alliance of Small Island States, whose countries are set to sink beneath rising oceans.

Macky Sall, the president of Senegal, is next, stressing Africa’s need for “a just energy transition”, given that 600 million people on the continent do not have electricity.

Sall also echoes the words of Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, yesterday by saying: “We are being doubly punished”, once for the colonialism that underpinned the industrial revolution, and now by the impacts of the carbon emissions it caused.

Last year’s Cop26, in Glasgow, delivered a global climate deal and lots of promises, including on coal use, deforestation, methane and climate finance. So how much progress has been made? Our Guardian US climate reporter, Oliver Milman, has done an expert analysis of five key pledges and what has been achieved, or not. “The last year has been a missed opportunity by many countries,” David Waskow, the director of the international climate initiative at the World Resources Institute, told him.

In terms of highlights to watch out for today, Guardian reporter Patrick Greenfield has picked out the following:

“South African prime minister Cyril Ramaphosa is holding a press conference at 10am UK time where he is likely to speak about the landmark $8.5bn financing deal to help end its reliance on coal announced just a year ago at Cop26.

Ramaphosa said the deal with money from the USA, EU, UK, Germany and France was a “watershed moment” for the world’s 13th largest carbon emitter, according to the Global Carbon Atlas.

Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, is also holding a press conference at 2.30pm UK time. She is one of the most influential voices from the Global South on loss and damage, a key issue at Cop27.

Tensions between China and Canada will raise concerns about the biodiversity Cop15, which the two countries are jointly hosting in Montreal next month. Side events for the key nature summit, where governments will agree this decade’s targets for halting the destruction of biodiversity, are being held during both weeks at the climate Cop27 in Egypt.

Yesterday, Justin Trudeau warned that China is “play[ing] aggressive games” to undermine democratic institutions amid reports Beijing actively interfered in Canada’s federal elections. It will be one to watch.”

Welcome to the Guardian’s live blog of the second day of Cop27, the United Nations climate conference taking place in Egypt. Yesterday, more than 100 world leaders gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh to hear the UN secretary general Ant?nio Guterres warn that the world was on a “highway to hell” and the prime minster of Barbados, Mia Mottley, condemn industrialised nations for failing the developed world on the climate crisis. You can read a full report here. Today, we’ll hear more speeches from countries around the world, before the negotiations begin in earnest on Wednesday.

I’m Natalie Hanman, the Guardian’s head of environment. Please send me any thoughts, stories or tips via email natalie.hanman@theguardian.com or Twitter @NatalieHanman.