What is COP 26? Here’s What You Need to Know
COP stands for Conference of the Parties. It’s The United Nations’ annual climate conference; gathering policymakers, scientists, environmental activists and climate experts from the 197 member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to set and work towards global climate change goals. COP 26 takes place in Glasgow, Scotland from October 31 to November 12, 2021.
Although annual COP meetings have been happening since 1995, this year’s is particularly signficant because participating nation are expected to increase their pledges to reduce GHG emissions and to finalise the rules needed to implement the Paris Agreement. This could be the planet’s last, best hope to agree on a global response to climate heating.
Here’s a more in-depth explainer from The National Observer. You can also check out “What is Cop26 and why does it matter? The complete guide“ from The Guardian. If you want to take a deep dive there’s the UN Climate Conference COP26 home page and COP26 Explained (PDF, 26 pages.)
Some After words
Saying the F words
Nov 15, 2021 – National Observer
It’s taken 26 climate summits, 27 years, for the world’s governments to utter the words “fossil fuels” as they sum up their annual chinwag.