Major UN climate change summit which was set to take place in Glasgow in November has been postponed until 2021 amid the coronavirus outbreak
- Cop26 climate change summit was due to take place in Glasgow in November
- UN climate talks thought to be most important since the Paris Agreement in 2015
- The summit has been pushed back to 2021 because of the coronavirus outbreak
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
The UN climate change summit due to take place in Glasgow in November have been postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus outbreak, it has been announced.
The Cop26 meeting was set to take place at Glasgow’s Scottish Events Campus – which is being turned into a temporary coronavirus field hospital – from November 9 to 20.
But an announcement from the UN’s climate body, the UNFCCC, and the UK Government said the summit would be pushed back to 2021 in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The UN climate talks are thought to be the most important since the Paris Agreement to curb global warming was secured in 2015.
Boris Johnson officially launched the countdown to COP26 at an event with David Attenborough in London in February
Countries were expected to deliver more ambitious domestic plans for cutting greenhouse gases by 2030, as current proposals are not enough to prevent dangerous temperature rises.
The decision to postpone was taken by the UNFCCC with the UK and its Italian partners in hosting Cop26, with dates in 2021 set out after further discussion.
UK Business and Energy Secretary Alok Sharma said: ‘The world is currently facing an unprecedented global challenge and countries are rightly focusing their efforts on saving lives and fighting Covid-19. That is why we have decided to reschedule Cop26.
‘We will continue working tirelessly with our partners to deliver the ambition needed to tackle the climate crisis and I look forward to agreeing a new date for the conference.’
UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa said: ‘Covid-19 is the most urgent threat facing humanity today, but we cannot forget that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity over the long term.
‘Soon, economies will restart. This is a chance for nations to recover better, to include the most vulnerable in those plans, and a chance to shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, just, safe and more resilient.’
A mid-year UN climate meeting scheduled for June in Bonn, Germany, which would have laid groundwork for the November talks, has been delayed to October.
The October summit became mired in controversy after David Cameron and William Hague both refused to host it.
And ex-minister Claire O’Neill, previously president of the conference, was later sacked by the PM’s adviser Dominic Cummings.
It comes as the UK recorded another 563 coronavirus deaths today, making it the worst day so far in the devastating COVID-19 crisis.
The increase takes the country’s total death toll to 2,352 – today’s surge is 48 per cent larger than yesterday’s increase of 381 fatalities and pushes the total up by 31 per cent in a day.
And 29,474 people have now tested positive for COVID-19. The UK is the fifth hardest-hit nation in Europe and eighth in the world.
Wales today recorded 29 new deaths caused by the coronavirus along with a further 16 fatalities in Scotland and two in Northern Ireland. 486 victims were declared in England and 11 remain unaccounted for.
The youngest patient announced today was a 13-year-old, believed to be Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab from Brixton, London, whose tragic death came to light last night after he died at King’s College Hospital on Monday. The oldest patient included in today’s update was 99 years old.
Today overtakes yesterday as Britain’s darkest day so far in the escalating crisis. Tuesday saw a then-record of 381 deaths and 3,009 cases declared across the home nations.
But the true size of the outbreak remains a mystery because of the UK’s controversial policy to only test patients in hospital – and not the tens of thousands of Britons with milder symptoms who are recovering at at home.