Comment on new COP26 dates
UK-hosted UN climate change summit will now be held between 1 and 12 November 2021 in Glasgow.
By George Smeeton
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Commenting on new dates for the UK-hosted UN climate change summit (COP26), which was postponed from November this year and will now be held between 1 and 12 November 2021 in Glasgow, Neil Morisetti, former Foreign Office Special Representative for Climate Change and current Director of Strategy at UCL Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy Department, said: “Hosting this pivotally important UN summit provides an excellent opportunity for the UK to put its diplomatic mark on the world as we leave the European Union, showing that as a nation we are committed to upholding international institutions and taking our responsibilities to less developed nations seriously.
“The UK Government must use the additional time created by the delay to COP26 to work tirelessly with its international partners in the coming months. We cannot postpone climate diplomacy, without which the odds on a successful summit and the resultant elevation of Britain’s global reputation will swiftly recede.”
Camilla Toulmin, Senior Associate at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) said: “The world’s poorest nations are already grappling with major climate change impacts, from floods and drought to sea-level rise and more intense storms. I have seen these devastating impacts especially in Mali. So their case for urgent action on climate change is as strong as ever, despite the inevitable postponement of COP26.
“Under the Paris Agreement, governments are due to deliver certain critical things ‘by 2020’, not ‘by COP26’ – these include plans for accelerating their emission cuts, and $100bn per year in financial assistance for the poorest. Covid-19 may have forced the postponent of COP26, but it provides no reason for them to delay delivering these crucial elements of the Paris Agreement.”
Richard Benyon, former environment minister and MP for Newbury, said: “Right now all governments are rightly focussing on Covid-19; but when we emerge from the pandemic, climate change will still be a reality, and the peoples of the world just as concerned to see it tackled.
“While delaying the crucial summit by a year isn’t ideal, there is now an opportunity to link action on cutting emissions with getting the world economy back on its feet after the pandemic passes, accelerating investments in technologies such as renewable energy, hydrogen and electric cars that provide jobs and economic returns and speed us towards the zero-carbon economy of the near future.”