10 things you need to know today: November 14, 2021

COP26 deal speeds up carbon cuts but falls short on curbing warming, Kaiser Permanente and unions avert hospital strike, and more

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(Image credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

1. COP26 deal toughens emissions targets but falls short on warming

Negotiators from nearly 200 nations reached a deal Saturday at the United Nations COP26 climate summit to strengthen targets for reducing carbon emissions and phasing out fossil fuels, although India forced a last-minute compromise watering down language on cutting coal use. The agreement calls on wealthy nations to follow through on a promise to help poorer nations adapt and pay for costly damage from global warming. The deal fell short of the summit's goal of securing concrete commitments to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. "The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees is a death sentence for us," said Aminath Shauna, the Maldives' environment and climate change minister. Organizers of the summit said the agreement "keeps 1.5 alive."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.