What does COP26 relate to?

COP26 is the annual UN (United Nations) climate change conference. COP stands for Conference of the Parties, and the summit will be attended by the countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - a treaty that came into force in 1994. The conference is being held in Glasgow, Scotland from 1-12 November 2021, a year later than planned due to delays caused by the Covid pandemic.

COP26 will be the most significant climate event since the 2015 Paris Agreement - when all the signatories to the UNFCCC agreed to keep temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

More than 100 heads of state and government and thousands of diplomats are meeting to set new targets for cutting coal, oil and gas that are heating the planet. For every fraction of a degree of warming, scientists say, the world will see more intense heat waves and draught, and more deadly floods and wildfires. Humans have already heated the planet by roughly 1.1 degrees Celsius, or 2 degrees Farenheit, since the 19th century. Countries have less than 10 years to reduce emissions enough to keep the planet below 1.5 degrees of warming. So if leaders don't commit to bold steps now, many fear the world will barrel towards dangerous levels of warming. Most participating countries have made promises to cut emissions roughly 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.