GLASGOW is set to host thousands of delegates and world leaders in less than three weeks as COP26 kicks off in the city.
The climate change talks have been dubbed “humanity’s last chance to save the planet” by the Scottish Greens, and is set to be a busy timetable of events as world leaders and delegates thrash out a new plan to set climate targets at the SEC Campus.
As the world aims to keep global warming below 1.5C, drastic new pledges from countries will be expected to avoid the most dangerous impacts of heat waves, floods, damage to natural systems, rising sea levels and diseases that higher temperatures will bring.
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What is COP26?
COP stands for Conference of Parties and the Glasgow summit will be the 26th time the conference has met.
The parties are signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a treaty signed in 1994 by 197 Parties - 196 countries and the EU.
They will discuss establishing climate targets and what needs to be done to meet them during the 11 day summit.
Who is attending?
A number of heads of state, including Boris Johnson for the UK, Ursula von der Leyen for the EU - who will be negotiating as a block - and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who are co-hosting the event with the UK Government.
All eyes will be on the leaders of the G20 countries, who account for 80% of global emissions, including the United States, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
The National have already prepared a report on who is attending and what, if anything, they have said about Scottish independence.
COP26 will be held at the SEC campus on the banks of the River Clyde
When is the official opening?
According to the detailed provisional schedule on the United Nation’s website, the leaders are expected to arrive in Glasgow on either Sunday evening (October 31) or Monday morning (November 1).
They will then start to arrive at the SEC Campus in Glasgow between 8am and 12pm on November 1, before the official opening ceremony kicks off at noon in the Blue Zone.
Then, delegates will begin to give national statements, limited to three minutes each, between 1pm and 5pm, before heading off to a VVIP reception at Kelvingrove Art Museum, hosted by the UK Government.
What happens next?
Heads of state will remain at the conference until the end of Tuesday November 2. National statements will continue for the whole Tuesday between 9am and 5pm, before the World Leaders summit is closed at 5pm.
After leaders have left, national delegations will start to enter into formal negotiations and informal consultations, or take part in meetings with other delegates.
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What is the difference between the Blue Zone and Green Zone?
The Blue Zone is the SEC campus and is for people registered with the UNFCCC tasked with coordinating the global response to the threat of climate change. This is the area where world leaders will be present and where negotiations will take place.
Media, non-profit observer organisations and UN related agencies and organisations are also allowed in the Blue zone.
The Green Zone, at the Glasgow Science Centre, is for the general public and will host workshops, art exhibitions, installations, presentations, demonstrations of technology and even musical performances.
What can we expect to see over the two weeks?
After the initial opening ceremony and speeches by heads of state and heads of government from the countries involved in negotiations, each day will focus on a theme linked to climate change.
Wednesday November 3 will see delegates discuss finance, and then moving on to discussing energy on Thursday November 4.
Delegates will discuss the theme of youth and public empowerement on Friday November 5 and then nature on Saturday November 6.
Other themes across the second week include adaptation, loss and damage, gender, transport, and Cities, Regions and Built Environments.
Alok Sharma is COP26 President on behalf of the UK Government
What do the UK Government hope to get out of the conference?
The UK Government has set four principle goals for the summit. The first is to increase mitigation efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep the 1.5C goal in the Paris Agreement within reach.
Secondly, they want delegate nations to commit to working to protect those in the most vulnerable regions from the impacts of climate change, protect their communities and natural habitats.
Thirdly, there is a call on countries to commit to generating £1billion each year to help developing nations combat climate change, a promise made by those countries over a decade ago at a UN summit.
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And finally, the UK want to enhance international collaboration, basically to finalise the Paris rulebook to bring together the measures needed to implement the Paris Agreement made in 2015.
We told how activists have said the UK Government’s agenda for COP26 is “woefully inadequate”.
Over 1000 volunteers will be at COP26, wearing the uniforms worn by volunteers above
What will the impact be on Glasgow?
Glasgow is set to face extensive road closures around the SEC campus, and environmental activists have already made clear that they intend to take direct action while the summit is ongoing.
And, there could be widespread industrial action with warnings from unions across public transport and bin collections that there could be strikes ahead.
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