OUR ENVIRONMENT EDITOR JOHN INGHAM’S VERDICT

COP26 is a rollercoaster. One minute we’re going to hell in a handcart, the next we have a blizzard of deals that could put the cart in reverse.

We began with the Met Office warning that the killer heatwave that inflicted record temperatures on Europe this summer will happen every year if we fail to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

But then came a series of deals that, on the surface, could help cool this forecast.

There was Boris Johnson’s blueprint to deliver clean, affordable technology everywhere by 2030. Then an eyecatching pact to slash methane levels by 30 per cent in a decade. Methane, which comes mainly from burping livestock, landfills and the fossil fuel industry, is about 28 times more potent as a heattrapping gas than carbon dioxide.

More than 100 countries signed up, including the US. But there’s always a catch. Top emitters China, Russia and India are staying out of the clean club.

Inevitably, the key to dealing with emissions, storms, droughts and rising sea levels is cash.

The UK has already missed its target to get rich countries to give poorer ones $100billion a year for five years. And on Monday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanded double that. But Chancellor Rishi Sunak pulled a rabbit out of the hat yesterday by pledging to make the UK the world’s first net zero financial centre.

It means more than $130trillion – 40 per cent of the world’s financial assets – will shun climate-wrecking schemes and back sustainable projects.

As always, we need to read the small print. But this sashays neatly into the theme for today – finance.

Poorer nations demanding help from richer ones have a point. The developed world’s industrialisation has done most to cause climate change. The starkest demand came from Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera, who said: “It’s not a charity act. So pay up or perish with us.”

Meanwhile, security here is still a nightmare. It took 55 minutes to get in yesterday...30 minutes less than Monday but still hopeless.

Authorities even told conference goers to stay away if they could watch remotely. Imagine how that looks to delegates all the way from Australia, Tonga or Greenland. They could have stayed at home and watched it on TV.

Heathrow screened thousands more passengers a day pre-pandemic – and it took about five minutes each. COP26 needs to raise its game.