The Road to COP26

The UK is hosting the UN’s climate change conference in 2021. The Institution’s Head of Policy, Matt Rooney, gets you up to speed with the background and latest info.

The United Nations’ 26^th Conference of the Parties (COP26) will bring together world leaders and their negotiating teams to try to agree how each nation will cut their own Greenhouse gas emissions in order to contribute towards global decarbonisation, as well as how to invest in climate resilience to protect against warming that is already ‘locked-in’.

The most well-known international treaties from previous such UN conferences are the Kyoto Protocol (1992) and the Paris Agreement (2015). This year, following a pre-COP meeting in Milan, the main COP26 conference will be held in Glasgow from 1^st-12^th November.

The UK, as hosts, get to shape the agenda. Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid out his Government’s priorities in a pithy slogan:  Coal, Cars, Cash, Trees, which means:

• Coal: Phasing out coal power plants in developed countries by 2030 and developing countries by 2040.
• Cars: Phasing out vehicles with internal combustion engines.
• Cash: $100 billion dollar fund from rich nations to help those with less wealth to decarbonise.
• Trees: A commitment to restore nature and habits and prevent deforestation.

These are the UK Government’s stated priorities, but as just one a mid-sized nation, even as host, their influence will only stretch so far. The outcome of COP26 will be thrashed out between global leaders during intense negotiations over the two week conference, with all eyes on a post-Trump USA and the current largest emitter in the world, China.

Negotiations take place in a secure area, known as the Blue Zone, where only a limited number of accredited and vetted people can access. As an Official Observer of COP26, the IMechE has been granted access and will send a delegation that will include the President (Peter Flinn), CEO (Dr Alice Bunn), and a small group of other members from across the Institution.

Those who live in Glasgow or who are intending to travel there for the conference will still have access to a range of events and activities outside of the Blue Zone. The Green Zone is a Pavilion organised by the UK Government, where companies, charities, and other interested organisations will promote their ideas to those in attendance. The themes for each day have been laid out by the COP26 President, Alok Sharma.

There will, of course, be other events dotted around Glasgow that may be of interest to IMechE members, or even organised by them.

The centrepiece of the Institution’s COP26 programme is our two day conference taking place in person and online on 28^th and 29^th October. You can find out the details and register here.

Please follow us on our social media channels and check back to our COP26 Hub on our webpage to keep abreast of ongoing IMechE events and publications before, during and after the conference.