What is COP26 and why should I care?

COP26 is the UN's 26th annual Conference of the Parties will be held in Glasgow for two weeks from November 1st, after being cancelled last year due to the pandemic. COP26 will be biggest summit the UK has ever hosted. It is being described as the most significant climate event since the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Presidents and prime ministers from around the world will be reporting back on progress since the Paris Agreement and, hopefully, there will be some new decisions on how to cut carbon emissions.

What is COP26?

COP26 is the next annual UN climate change conference. COP stands for Conference of the Parties and the number means that this is the 26th Conference of the Parties to take place.

Made up of international negotiations, global civil society activity and activists, COP26 will be the biggest and most complex event ever staged in Scotland, with the largest gathering of Heads of State ever to happen in the UK.

The two-week summit will be attended by the leaders and delegates of countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a treaty that came into force in 1994.

The last conference, COP25, was held in Madrid, Spain, in November 2019 with Greta Thunberg giving the key- note speech at the event.

The COP meeting in Madrid finished with lots of unresolved issues, but an agreement was made about cutting carbon dioxide and each nation agreed to devise a plan to cut their carbon emissions by the next conference in Glasgow.

Why is it important?

COP26 is considered very significant to tackling climate change as it will be the first COP to take place after the landmark Paris Agreement’s measures take effect and the first opportunity since then for nations to come together to review commitments on climate change and global warming; these measures were approved at COP21 in Paris in 2015 and were due to be implemented last year.

What does the Paris agreement say?

Almost all countries signed the Paris Agreement and the central aim of the treaty is to restrict global temperature rise this century to 'well below' 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

The Paris Agreement included a clause ‘requesting’ nations to submit enhancements or upgrades in the form of nationally determined contributions (NDCs). NDCs are targets and goals that each country sets for themselves to accelerate their carbon-cutting for the decade to 2030.

It says nations must:

• Reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gasses produced and increase renewable types of energy like wind, solar and wave power
• Keep global temperature increase "well below" 2C (3.6F) and to try to limit it to 1.5C
• Review progress made on the agreement every five years
• Spend $100 billion dollars a year in climate finance to help poorer countries by 2020, with a commitment to further finance in the future.

Who is coming?

President Biden, Pope Francis and senior members of the Royal family are expected to arrive in Glasgow for the conference along with more than 120 world leaders from across the globe.

Around 20,000 accredited delegates will also be in attendance along with thousands of climate change activists who will come to the city to protest on the issues being discussed.

Around 10,000 police officers will also travel north to assist Police Scotland.

Where will it take place?

COP26 will run from 1 - 12 November 2021 in Glasgow at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), which includes the SECC, Armadillo, the SSE Hydro and the Glasgow Science Centre.

A UN Blue Zone will be established over the whole event campus will be policed entirely by United Nations personnel.

There will also be events taking place across the city including at Glasgow City Chambers. These events will be known as the ‘green zone’.

What do the ‘zones’ mean?

The Blue Zone, centred at the SEC, is where the main negotiations will take place.

The Green Zone is where the civic society and businesses will have their voices heard through events, exhibitions and workshops, promoting discussion, awareness and education in relation to fighting climate change.

It is also an opportunity for the host country to showcase its innovative projects and technologies.

Who will police it?

More than 10,000 officers will be drafted to Glasgow for the COP26 policing operation in November.

Every force in the UK will be sending officers North to support Police Scotland.

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