{"id":46894,"date":"2023-10-06T14:19:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T13:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grayling.com\/news-and-views\/what-to-expect-at-cop-26\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T14:19:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T13:19:22","slug":"what-to-expect-at-cop-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grayling.com\/de\/news-and-views\/what-to-expect-at-cop-26\/","title":{"rendered":"What to expect at COP 26"},"content":{"rendered":"

The clock is ticking to the start of the COP 26 climate summit with public, private and third sector organisations making final preparations for engaging with what may prove to be the largest ever UK-hosted international event.\u00a0While COPs are held every twelve months, except for 2020 during the first year of the pandemic, Glasgow is the most important since Paris, and UK ministers have sought to learn key \u2018lessons\u2019 from that landmark 2015 conference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of those learnings is the importance of a long \u2018run-in\u2019 prior to the event with French officials engaging international stakeholders for two years before the start of Paris.\u00a0The French Government threw the full weight of the state behind that 2015 event with then-foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who was in the 1980s France\u2019s youngest ever prime minister, the most effective ever COP president.<\/p>\n

Former UK business secretary Alok Sharma<\/strong> is this year\u2019s COP president<\/strong> and he has done extensive diplomatic legwork having flown to more than 30 countries this year alone.\u00a0Yet, while he has clocked up the air miles, UK preparations have been significantly hampered by the pandemic and geopolitical tensions, and London is currently still scrambling to try to ensure attendance of key world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/strong> who at the time of writing has still not confirmed whether he will attend.<\/p>\n

Xi\u2019s absence, if he doesn\u2019t travel to Glasgow, could be a particular challenge for the UK Government delivering a successful summit. China is the world\u2019s largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions and Xi, alongside then-US president Barack Obama, was a pivotal player in the build-up to Paris in 2015. This included the momentum he brought to the signing of the US-China climate agreement that year that helped pave the way for securing the new global climate treaty in France.<\/p>\n

The fact that there is still much left to do, diplomatically, to get Glasgow on track was highlighted by Sharma earlier this month when he made a point of warning that \u201cCOP 26 is not a photo op or a talking shop. It must be the forum where we put the world on track to deliver on climate. And that is down to leaders\u201d.<\/p>\n

Climate diplomacy super-surge in October and November<\/strong><\/p>\n

With \u2018success\u2019 in November far from certain, London along with key allies is now engaged in a global diplomatic climate super-surge.\u00a0 This began in New York last month at the United Nations when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson<\/strong> met counterparts from across the world to try to get progress in five key priority areas, namely;<\/p>\n