Glasgow successful in UN summit bid

Glasgow will host a United Nations climate change summit next year.

Scottish Climate Change Secretary Roseanna Cunningham confirmed the UN has chosen the city to hold COP26 and predicted it would be a huge success.

The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will bring around 30,000 delegates to the city’s Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in November 2020.

It will be the largest summit the UK has held, with up to 200 world leaders expected for the event.

At COP21 in Paris in 2015, participants agreed to keep the global temperature rise this century at less than 2C above preindustrial levels.

The UK Government said previously that, five years on, COP26 will be the first major test of the international community’s commitment to scale up efforts to reduce emissions.

Ms Cunningham said: “I am pleased that Glasgow has been confirmed as the host city of COP26, now that the joint UK and Italy bid to host the summit has been approved.

“It is right that this conference should come to Scotland given our leadership in climate action.

“Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to acknowledge the global climate emergency and the Scottish Government has introduced the toughest targets in the UK to ensure our action matches the scale of our climate ambitions.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with partners to deliver an ambitious and effective conference that ensures Scotland plays a leading role to help promote the increased global effort to tackle climate change.

“I have no doubt that Glasgow will deliver a highly successful conference and I look forward to welcoming delegates to Scotland.”