WHAT IS COP26?

COP26 is the 2021 edition of the United Nations Annual Climate Change Conference.

COP stands for Conference of the Parties. Parties are the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - a treaty agreed in 1994 which has 197 Parties (196 countries and the EU). The 2021 conference, hosted in Glasgow by the UK, together with partners Italy, will be the 26th meeting of the Parties, which is why it's called COP26.

United Nations climate change conferences are among the largest international meetings in the world. The negotiations between governments are complex and involve officials from every country in the world as well as representatives from civil society and the global news media.

Put simply COP is the world’s most important summit on climate change. Please don’t get me started in the impact of this event in terms of its carbon footprint 😟 This year’s conference has been described by climate change experts as the most significant climate event since the 2015 Paris Agreement. (That's the one Trump unsigned the USA from and then President Biden sign up to again!) Let’s hope our elected representatives from around the world step up and make the rapid changes needed happen. If you want to support action take a look at our COP26 Challenge and let the world know you are doing your Lil thing to help.

The meeting has 4 key goals, listed here. There’s a whole lot under each of these but for speed we’ll keep this high level!

1.  Secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach

Countries are being asked to come forward with ambitious 2030 emissions reductions targets that align with reaching net zero by the middle of the century. You can check what commitments have been made so far by searching for a countries NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution). These are the pledges made by countries around the world to address climate change. You can access the UKs submission to the NDC registry here

To deliver on these stretching targets, countries will need to:

• accelerate the phase-out of coal

• curtail deforestation

• speed up the switch to electric vehicles

• encourage investment in renewables.

2.  Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats

The climate is already changing and it will continue to change even as we reduce emissions, with devastating effects.

At COP26 we need to work together to enable and encourage countries affected by climate change to:

• protect and restore ecosystems

• build defences, warning systems and resilient infrastructure and agriculture to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and even lives

3.  Mobilise finance

To deliver on our first two goals, developed countries must make good on their promise to mobilise at least $100bn in climate finance per year by 2020. 

International financial institutions must play their part and we need work towards unleashing the trillions in private and public sector finance required to secure global net zero.

4.  Work together to deliver

We can only rise to the challenges of the climate crisis by working together.

At COP26 we must:

• finalise the Paris Rulebook (the detailed rules that make the Paris Agreement operational)

• accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis through collaboration between governments, businesses and civil society.

For more info visit https://ukcop26.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/COP26-Explained.pdf

If you want to watch/listen to the proceedings you can find the program and livestream here https://unfccc-cop26.streamworld.de/program

We love to hear your ideas and feedback. We aren’t experts and we are on the journey too so comment below if you have advice and inspiration to add.