This Sunday the UN climate summit Cop26 begins. World leaders will meet in Glasgow to try to agree new ways to solve the climate crisis. They must arrive ready to turn ambitious slogans into action, but who will deliver and who will pay the costs if they don’t? Emily Tamkin in Washington and Alix Kroeger in London are joined by Philippa Nuttall in Brussels to discuss whether Cop26 will achieve the outcomes that the world needs. Against the backdrop of surging Covid cases in southeastern Europe, they examine the relationship between vaccine scepticism and authoritarianism. Then in You Ask Us, a listener asks about US relations with Iraq in the light of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.If you have a question for You Ask Us, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk. Further reading: Philippa Nuttall on the price of the planet: who will step up at Cop26? Ido Vock on whether Belarus is using migrants to wage “hybrid warfare” on the EU India Bourke on whether China’s climate envoy can make a difference at Cop26 Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.