A major commitment to end deforestation by 2030 is the first "breakthrough" of Cop26, a minister has said today, signalling a shift in tone from the UK Government.

       Joe Biden, Xi Jinping and Jair Bolsonaro, respectively the presidents of the US, China and Brazil, are among those signing the pledge today, which will apply to 85 per cent of the forests on the planet, and comes with ￡14 billion of public and private funding.

       After several days of downbeat warnings that the success of Cop26 was "touch and go", the Environment Secretary today hailed the agreement as game-changing.

       George Eustice admitted to having been "apprehensive" about the chances of reaching an accord, saying "we didn't have it in the bag" in the days before Cop began.

       Noting Boris Johnson's pessimism in the run-up to the summit, Mr Eustice told Sky News: "This is an important breakthrough, had you spoken to me five days ago I also would've been apprehensive about whether we would've landed this agreement on forests but we have and it's looking really encouraging. This is a big breakthrough."

       He added: "If this continues it will bode well for Cop26 for the next two weeks."

       He forecast that big agreements would be struck "late into the night" on the final day of the conference, adding: "These conversations are always complex, there are multilateral conversations going on."

       Mr Johnson will formally unveil the agreement at an event today alongside Mr Biden and Prince Charles.

       ？？Follow the latest updates below.

       Insulate Britain protesters attempted to block the M25 at the South Mimms roundabout at Junction 24 on Tuesday morning.

       Six of the demonstrators were stopped by police from getting into the road at about 8am. They instead sat on the pavement with a banner. Some have glued themselves to the surface.

       A group of officers have since begun lifting activists from the pavement and putting them in the back of a van.

       More than a dozen officers and seven police vehicles are on scene.

       George Eustice has said he does not have an electric car or a heat pump at home, as the Government advocates switching to green technologies.

       The Environment Secretary told Sky News: "I have got a small Mini that has a green mode on it but I don't yet have an electric vehicle."

       Asked if he has a heat pump, he said: "No, I don't have a heat pump at the moment but it's certainly something that I would look at.

       "I'm the same as many other people, we all want to do the right thing and make these changes, we need the technology to come forward, we need to set a trajectory, everybody wants to make these changes, sometimes the technology is not quite there yet but we are making progress in the right direction."

       Read: No ministers have heat pump - despite insisting public install them

       A Cabinet minister has said it is "deeply regrettable" that an Israeli minister could not access Cop26 because she was in a wheelchair.

       George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We deeply regret that incident.

       "What would normally happen in this situation is that Israel would have communicated they had that particular need for their minister. There was something obviously that went wrong in this instance, so they weren't aware of that and so they hadn't made the right provisions at the particular entrance she wasn't coming to.

       "It is deeply regrettable and we have apologised and I know James Cleverly, my colleague in Government, is going to be meeting her later."

       Challenged over the wider issue about accessibility for general attendees, Mr Eustice insisted the majority of entrances were accessible, saying: "We want this conference to be accessible to everybody."

       The UK's door is "ever-open" to finding a solution to the fishing row, a Cabinet minister has said after welcoming France's decision to pull back from threats.

       A new agreement is expected to resolve the bitter UK-French spat over fishing, after Emmanuel Macron extended the deadline for sanctions and Britain signalled it was in “solutions mode”.

       The French president declared late on Monday night that he was pausing his threat of retaliatory measures including trade disruptions and port bans so that discussions with the EU and Britain could continue on Tuesday.

       George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, told Sky News: "We welcome the fact that France has stepped back from threats they were making last Wednesday.

       "We have always said we wanted to de-escalate this and have an ever-open door. France has clearly taken a decision not to complement some of the measures they threatened last Wednesday."

       A Cabinet minister has defended the fact that India has only committed to net zero by 2070, saying there would be "staging posts" between now and then and "countries will have to take decisions now to hit those staging posts".

       George Eustice, the Environment Secretary told Sky News: "We would prefer if all countries commit to net zero by 2050 but also should welcome this as a big step forward.

       "They have got more to do, we should welcome what they have committed to even though we would always hope people would do more."

       It's an early start for The Telegraph team in Glasgow - but the view is worth it.

       We will be bringing you all the Cop26 news and analysis from the ground, as well as what's happening in Westminster and beyond.

       The Queen told world leaders at Cop26 they must act now for the sake of “our children, and our children’s children” as she acknowledged that “none of us will live forever”.

       Her Majesty, 95, spoke warmly of the role that her “dear late husband”, the Duke of Edinburgh, played in the campaign against climate change.

       She used the video address to make her most significant intervention on the environment to date, urging delegates to “rise above the politics of the moment and achieve true statesmanship” by taking action.

       The recording was made at Windsor Castle on Friday afternoon, after the Queen was forced to pull out of a planned appearance at the Glasgow climate conference on doctors’ orders, having been advised to rest for two weeks.

       The world's leaders are reconvening in Glasgow today for day two of Cop26, with a key announcement about pledges to end deforestation due to be made.

       Yesterday saw the Queen tell politicians they must act now for the sake of “our children, and our children’s children” as she acknowledged that “none of us will live forever”.

       Here is today's front page.

       Need help?

       Visit our adblocking instructions page.