GLASGOW, Nov 9. - Tuesday was "Gender, Science, and Innovation" day here at COP. Representing the US was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- the first woman to be elected Speaker (twice) and no stranger to COPs and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Women around the world are more vulnerable in the face of climate disasters and climate-induced crop failures. Likewise, women's leadership often leads to greater outcomes for climate-related projects and policies.

The day revealed a number of commitments aiming to tackle gender injustice. Bolivia committed to reflecting gender data in its reporting to the UN Framework on Climate Change, while the US invested $20 million to increase women's land rights as well as economic opportunities in the clean energy sector.

Inside the venue, Indigenous groups held a powerful gathering in memory of missing and murdered Indigenous women, who are too often targeted and killed for speaking out about environmental injustice. "Indigenous women are the primary line of defense against the violence perpetrated by extractive industries on our territories," said Mireya Gualinga, Member of the Government Advisory Board of the Kichwa Community of Sarayaku. "We defend with our own bodies the health of our families, communities, and lands, and we fight every day against the colonialist exploitation of multinationals from the global North."

While women's role in the climate movement took center stage in various country pavilions across the convention center, inside the closed-door meeting rooms, diplomats pressed on with technical multilateral negotiations. Specifically, how the Paris Agreement will address three key issues:

1. Transparency -- In lieu of any binding enforcement mechanism, parties are debating a transparency agreement for publicly tracking countries' progress on emissions reductions. A Washington Post investigation examined 196 country reports, and found that nations are underreporting up to 13.3 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year, enough to question the accuracy of current policy targets. Check out our piece on the importance of clear data for successful international climate agreements.

2. Finance -- Developed countries have so far failed to deliver on the $100 billion a year promised for climate finance. Countries across the Global South are pressing for specific loss and damage language to be included in the agreement. But rich countries are resisting these commitments behind closed doors. In one good piece of news on climate finance, the Peoples Forests Partnership was announced Tuesday, which aims to close a major equity gap by mobilizing $1.7 billion for indigenous and community-based forest conservation projects.

3. Carbon Markets -- Party negotiators have been working around the clock to resolve issues around defining "Article 6." In this proposed emissions trading framework, countries who fail to meet their targets could buy credits from others who have overachieved on their pledges. (For a deeper dive into COP26, negotiations and carbon markets go here.)

"We absolutely need to see a framework, a global framework for enabling countries to have the resources they need to invest in their natural capital," said CEO of The Nature Conservancy Jennifer Morris, who took a moment out of her packed COP schedule to sit with us for an interview today. The Nature Conservancy has been pushing innovative finance mechanisms for protecting nature, including a just announced debt-for-nature swap with Belize.

We also got to sit down with Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of California’s Department of Natural Resources, to discuss the climate emergency in California and how his department is working to protect forests and healthy soils.

"This summer, whole communities were essentially wiped off the map as a result of catastrophic wildfires. This week, my agency will be providing emergency water to communities who have literally run out of water," said Secretary Crowfoot. "We need to act now. The house is burning and we are here to pull the fire alarm."

With only three days left until the end of the COP26, the world is watching to see if negotiators will find common ground and meet the gravity of the climate crisis.

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See our coverage of the previous days at COP26:

Dispatch #7 - November 8

Dispatch #5 & #6 - November 7

Dispatch #4 - November 4

Dispatch #3 - November 3

Dispatch #2 - November 2

Dispatch #1 - November 1