October 29, 20216:01 AM ET

LAUREN SOMMERTwitter

CONNIE HANZHANG JINTwitter

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/29/1045344199/cop26-glasgow-climate-summit

RINA TORCHINSKY

Leaders from around the world are gathering in Glasgow, Scotland, to hammer out new pledges to fight climate change. The stakes are high. Scientists warn that heat-trapping emissions must fall dramatically by 2030. Otherwise, the world faces more extreme hurricanes, floods and droughts, likely displacing millions of people. Still, negotiations at the COP26 meeting are expected to be tough. Here are four reasons why.

#1 The world is not on track to avoid extreme climate change

Countries havealready made pledgesto cut their greenhouse gas emissions by moving away from burning fossil fuels. But added together, those pledges don’t reduce emissions enough to avoid the worst damage from climate change. Current policies put the world on track for around 4.8 degrees of warming by 2100, compared with global average temperatures in the mid-19th century.