The first week of Glasgow’s COP26 climate summit is over, and we have seen a number of countries make landmark promises to help mitigate the effects of climate change. ASPI’s Robert Glasser and Anastasia Kapetas discuss these commitments, Australia’s position during the conference and what’s in store for the remainder of the summit.

With the Australian government’s recent announcement that it will acquire nuclear-powered submarines and cancel the Attack-class program, it looks like we might be waiting until the late 2030s until the first submarine is in service. Defence capability experts Marcus Hellyer and Andrew Davies consider the decision to acquire nuclear-powered submarines and discuss Australia’s potential naval capability gaps and how they can be addressed.

As international travel begins to reopen, digital vaccine passports are set to be a requirement in many parts of the world to prove vaccination status. ASPI’s Teagan Westendorf and Gill Savage discuss the challenges for the rollout of vaccine passports, potential issues with interoperability and how to address cybersecurity risks.