After a tough 2025 dominated by the US opposing climate action at home and abroad, 2026 looks set to be shaped by coalitions of countries willing to bypass the COP’s need for consensus and take voluntary action as a group.

While troubled multilateral talks on cleaning up plastics and shipping limp on, smaller groups of governments will gather to discuss taxing luxury air travel and planning a fair phase-out of fossil fuels. Australia and the Pacific’s initiatives for COP31 – which could continue discussions on the fossil fuel transition – will be crucial too.

As always, elections will shape the year too, particularly in the Americas. Presidential elections in Brazil and Colombia will determine whether Lula and Petro’s climate progress is reversed and Congressional elections in the USA will shape whether Trump’s climate vandalism can be checked.

January

From January 10-12, the International Renewable Energy Agency will gather ministers and officials at its Abu Dhabi headquarters for its annual assembly and related side events. The organisation will announce new insights into whether the world is on track to meet the COP28 goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, and our editor Megan Rowling will be there to cover the summit.

The next week (January 19-23) is the World Economic Forum, where the global elite gather in the Swiss mountain town of Davos. With the Trump administration trying to push climate change down the agenda in return for his participation, we’ll be looking to see if he has got his way.

February

On February 7, government representatives will gather in Geneva to elect a new chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution. The previous chair – Ecuadorian Luis Vayas Valdivieso – stepped down in October after failing to get governments to agree to a plastics treaty.

The new chair will face a tough task reviving those talks, with governments whose economies rely on oil and gas opposing any measures to reduce plastic production.

March

At a still undecided date in March, the Danish government will gather a representative group of climate ministers in their capital for the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial. Expect topics to include next steps in transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems.

Meanwhile, on March 23-27, the oil and gas industry, energy ministers and other high-flyers in business and politics will travel to the Texan oil town of Houston for the CERAWeek conference. The annual gathering offers signals of what’s happening in the real economy.

Around the same time, on March 26-29, trade ministers will head to Cameroon for the World Trade Organisation’s ministerial meeting. With trade issues increasingly overlapping with the climate space, especially with the European Union’s carbon border tax coming into force at the start of 2026, the statements and discussions here will shed light on climate policy around the world.

April

On April 13-18, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund will hold their annual spring meetings in Washington DC. Over the last few years, both institutions have tried to get more money to climate action. But, with the head of the World Bank effectively chosen by the US president, will this push survive Donald Trump’s presence in the Oval Office?

On April 28-29, the governments of Colombia and the Netherlands will co-host the first “International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels” in the Colombian port city of Santa Marta. With 24 countries signing a related voluntary declaration at COP30, the conference could launch a coalition against fossil fuels that grows outside of the notoriously slow COP process.

May

On May 11-12, the France-Africa summit will be held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. With Kenya and France both key backers of a coalition of countries seeking to tax luxury air travel to fund climate action, we will be looking out for progress on those proposals.

The Colombian government of Gustavo Petro has inspired many climate campaigners with plans to phase out fossil fuel production. But Petro can’t run for another term and the first round of elections to replace him will take place on May 31. Who will replace him is currently highly uncertain.

June

On June 8-18, climate negotiators, campaigners and a select group of journalists – including Climate Home News – will travel to the German city of Bonn for the annual mid-year climate talks. Discussions on the Global Goal on Adaptation – unresolved at COP30 – will continue and the first trade-climate dialogue will be held.

Overlapping this gathering will be the G7 leaders summit on the French shores of Lake Geneva (June 14) and the following week’s London Climate Week (June 21-29). The men’s football/soccer World Cup will begin in North America (June 14), with high temperatures expected.

July

On July 8-10, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage will have a board meeting in the Philippines, at which it is expected to approve its first set of projects, three and a half years after the fund’s creation grabbed headlines at COP27 in Egypt.

August

Dates are unconfirmed but there may be the next round of plastics treaty negotiations at some point in August or September and – with Australia and the Pacific involved in COP31 – Pacific leaders will gather for the annual Pacific Island Forum summit around this time.

September

Throughout September, diplomats will gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Coinciding with that will be New York Climate Week (September 20-27), where power brokers in the climate world hold meetings, strike deals and make speeches.

October

Brazil’s president Lula has reversed the rising rainforest destruction of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, hosted COP30 and pushed for a roadmap towards fossil fuel phase-out. Whether he will be able to continue in that vein depends on the two rounds of presidential elections, scheduled for October 4 and 26. Polls suggest he is the clear favourite to win.

On October 13-18, the World Bank and IMF host their annual autumn meetings and on October 19-30, the biodiversity COP comes to the Armenian capital city of Yerevan, where countries will produce the first global stocktake of the landmark Global Biodiversity Framework. Research suggests some of its goals, including a target to protect 30% of land and sea ecosystems, are highly off track.

November

An important month starts with US midterm elections for both branches of its Congress on November 3. The Democrats are currently expected to regain control of the House but not regain the Senate, where fewer seats are up for grabs. Losing either would limit Trump’s power in the world’s second-biggest emitter.

Around the same time, the annual pre-COP meeting will be held in a still-undetermined Pacific Island nation. Pacific governments hope to attract world leaders to come and see firsthand how climate change is threatening their islands.

Then on November 9-20, the climate COP will take place in the Turkish seaside city of Antalya, at its Expo Center. Australia is presiding over the talks – as part of a deal with Turkiye. Expect fossil fuel phase out and adaptation to be key themes.

Overlapping with COP31 will be the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organisation in London (November 16-20). In 2025, the US and Saudi Arabia won a year’s delay to green shipping measures. This meeting will determine if that delay becomes permanent.

December

On December 14-15, the leaders of the G20 (except South Africa) have been invited for a summit in Miami. The US, which is barring South Africa partly because of its green policies, has indicated it will use the G20 to promote fossil fuels.

The post What’s on the climate calendar for 2026? appeared first on Climate Home News.

What’s on the climate calendar for 2026?

India, Saudi Arabia and Argentina are among the roughly 70 nations that did not submit updated climate plans to the United Nations in 2025, despite the 2015 Paris Agreement’s requirement that countries do so every five years.

According to Climate Action Tracker, about three-fifths of countries have submitted their latest nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the UN climate body. Most of them landed in late 2025 and outline targets and measures to cut planet-heating emissions and adapt to climate impacts through to 2035.

Those countries that have formally submitted new NDCs include all G20 nations except India, Saudi Arabia and Argentina. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has indicated it will not deliver on the US’s Biden-era NDC as it pulls the world’s second-largest emitting country out of the Paris Agreement.

Many of the governments that have not submitted NDCs are low-emitting small or poorer nations, especially in Africa. But major economies that have not submitted an NDC – some of which also have energy transition deals with donors – include Egypt, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The United Nations tried to encourage on-time submission of this third round of NDCs by setting soft deadlines. Just 13 countries met a first February 10 deadline and around 60 of the 195 signatories to the Paris Agreement met a September deadline, allowing them to be included in a key UN synthesis report.

The UN’s Paris Agreement Compliance Committee – made up of climate negotiators from different governments – has expressed concern about governments not submitting NDCs, or doing so late, and asked them to explain themselves.

After talking to governments that missed the February deadline, it found a host of obstacles including insufficient financial support; technical challenges like a lack of data or problems coordinating across sectors and including different groups; and other issues like political instability or genocide.

India keeps world guessing

The Indian government has been tight-lipped on its NDC, although an unnamed official told the Indian Express back in February that it was in “no hurry”.

The official added that the NDC would reflect India’s disappointment at the new global climate finance goal for 2035, agreed at COP29 in 2024. India has repeatedly argued that without sufficient climate finance, developing countries cannot be as ambitious as they would like to be in reducing emissions.

Some media outlets and analysts were expecting India to announced its NDC at COP30 in November. Instead, the Indian government said only during the summit that it would submit an NDC “on time”, with environment minister Bhupender Yadav telling reporters it would be “by December”.

Argentina sets emissions caps but no NDC

The right-wing government of Argentina, which has considered leaving the Paris Agreement, unveiled caps on the country’s emissions for 2030 and 2035 in an online event on November 3, but has yet to formalise those targets in an NDC.

At the event and in subsequent communications with Climate Home News, Undersecretary of the Environment Fernando Brom said the country would present its NDC during the first week of COP30. But that did not happen, although Argentinian negotiators participated in the climate summit.

Some local experts have pointed to November’s trade deal with the US as one of the reasons for the delay in submitting the NDC, while others cited the government’s disinterest in the climate agenda.

In contrast, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Vietnam have faced less scrutiny and have not publicly commented on whether and when their NDCs will be released.

In August, the Vietnamese government said it was “actively advancing the update” of its NDC. The country has a Just Energy Transition partnership with rich nations, but the International Energy Agency predicts coal use will continue to grow there until at least 2030, driven by power-hungry manufacturing.

The Philippines government has organised consultation events on its new NDC but has not said when it will be released.

The post India, Saudi Arabia and Argentina fail to submit climate plans in 2025 appeared first on Climate Home News.

India, Saudi Arabia and Argentina fail to submit climate plans in 2025

Alexandria Gordon is manager of policy and development at the Women’s Environment & Development Organization) and Demet Intepe, PhD, is a climate adaptation and resilience expert with Practical Action.

If the world genuinely intends to help people adapt to climate change, including women cannot be treated as optional. It must be the starting point for every plan and policy.

Across the Global South, climate impacts are already reshaping daily life. Floods, droughts and heatwaves are destroying homes, crops and livelihoods.

Evidence consistently shows that when women and girls participate fully in adaptation efforts, entire societies benefit. Putting gender at the centre makes adaptation stronger, more equitable, and more sustainable.

COP30 was expected to cement this understanding. Touted as “the COP of Adaptation,” it fell far short. Once again, decisions were made without meaningful consideration for the people already facing the harshest climate impacts. Communities trying to protect their homes, harvests and livelihoods are still denied the resources and action they urgently need.

“Coordinated backlash”: Activists say COP30 gender spat reflects wider threat

The UN Environment Programme’s annual Adaptation Gap Report outlines the scale of investment required to address escalating climate risks. What remains missing is political will – the willingness to respond to communities already facing loss, and to acknowledge that adaptation fails without women because it ignores half the knowledge and leadership societies depend on.

Women are central to decisions about land, food, water, care and community organising on farms, in markets, in local government, cooperatives or social movements. When their rights, voices and priorities are excluded, policies address only part of the risk, funding bypasses those best placed to use it, and solutions fail to reflect how communities actually adapt.

Women leading adaptation on the ground

Purnima Rani Biswas in Bangladesh rebuilt her livelihood after Cyclone Amphan devastated her village in 2020. When floodwaters finally receded, she and her community received training to restore their fields and strengthen resilience. Purnima began growing crops on elevated dykes above future flood levels.

Her success inspired neighbours, proving that farming on shifting, flood‑prone land is possible. Recovery has been slow, but the community now believes adaptation is achievable.

Saraswati Sonar, chair of her local Community Disaster Management Committee in Nepal, plays a crucial role in keeping her community safe. She regularly contacts government hotlines for weather updates and alerts elderly people, pregnant women, and families with young children when evacuation is necessary. Her leadership ensures timely, life‑saving action.

These examples show that women are not passive victims of climate change ­- they are active agents of resilience.

What gender‑responsive adaptation really means

Language shapes action. Terms like “gender‑sensitive” often become symbolic rather than transformative. “Gender‑responsive,” however, demands concrete action. It means:

• Integrating gender as a priority across planning, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring  
• Recognising unequal access to land, income, technology, mobility and decision‑making, and how these shape people’s ability to adapt
• Acknowledging who grows food, collects water, rebuilds homes, and who is left behind during crises.

Gender-responsive adaptation is not about elevating women above others. It is about making climate policy effective. Without women, climate action fails – and risks deepening existing inequalities rather than reducing vulnerability.

Yet at COP30, some governments resisted the term “gender-responsive,” preferring weaker language that allows them to avoid meaningful commitments to equity and justice.

What COP30 achieved and where it fell short

Despite major shortcomings, COP30 delivered a few important steps for gender and adaptation. A new Gender Action Plan was adopted, intended to help mainstream gender across national plans and global policies. Its impact will depend on whether governments implement it meaningfully.

Under the Global Goal on Adaptation, countries adopted 59 indicators to track progress, including a gender-specific indicator. This is a significant step forward: for the first time, global reporting will show whether national adaptation policies are genuinely gender-responsive.

Tripling adaptation finance is just the start – delivery is what matters

However, progress was uneven. National Adaptation Plans moved in the wrong direction, with gender commitments weakened and made conditional “only when applicable”, rather than central. This risks sidelining gender entirely unless civil society holds governments to account.

Adaptation finance was COP30’s biggest failure. The decision to “triple adaptation finance by 2035” remains vague and falls short of meeting adaptation needs. The Adaptation Fund, a leader in integrating gender into climate finance, received pledges of only around $135 million – less than half its $300 million target. Without predictable, grant-based finance, even the strongest plans cannot reach the communities that need them most.

What needs to happen next

Real adaptation happens in homes, fields, forests and coastal villages, not in negotiation rooms. Communities living through climate impacts already know what works. Community‑led, gender‑just approaches consistently reduce climate risk and build resilience.

To turn the Gender Action Plan’s commitments into action, governments must:

• Make gender-responsive adaptation non‑negotiable
• Invest in locally led solutions that prioritise community leadership and women’s intergenerational knowledge
• Ensure finance reaches frontline communities without creating new debt
• Use the GGA indicators to strengthen transparency and accountability

Organisations such as the Women’s Environment and Development Organization and Practical Action already work with communities using rights-based, gender-just approaches that reflect local needs and priorities. It is crucial for organisations that work directly with most impacted communities to be part of conversations on adaptation, including countries’ policy development.

From commitments to action

For COP decisions to matter, they must translate into action on the ground. Adaptation can no longer remain the slow lane of climate action, and gender can no longer be sidelined. Every global decision and national action must now be intentionally gender-responsive.

Why adaptation fails without women is no mystery. The question is who will act on what we already know?

The post Women must be a starting point, not an afterthought, for adaptation appeared first on Climate Home News.

Women must be a starting point, not an afterthought, for adaptation