Parliamentary Meeting at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26)
PRESS RELEASE – The IPU is co-organising the COP26 Parliamentary Meeting in Glasgow on 7 November 2021 with the British Group of the IPU (BGIPU). The IPU has long supported the engagement of parliaments in annual COP meetings through the organisation of parliamentary meetings.
All Member Parliaments of the organisation have been invited to attend and there are expected to be over 200 parliamentarians at the meeting held in the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery.
The aim of the meeting is to promote cooperation and open dialogue among international parliamentarians and inspire delegates to call on national governments to set ambitious plans to meet all the obligations of the Paris Agreement targets. Crucially, this includes commitments to strengthen the response to the threat of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing concerted efforts to limit any temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The opening session will hear welcoming remarks by the Speaker of the UK House of Commons, Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, the Lord Speaker of the UK House of Lords, Rt Hon the Lord McFall of Alcluith and the IPU President, Duarte Pacheco. The critical role of parliaments in the COP process will be highlighted, with the intention of inspiring delegates to use their parliamentary roles and responsibilities to hold governments to account in fully implementing COP26 outcomes.
The sessions will cover a broad range of topic relating to climate change and the road to reaching the net-zero objective. There will be an update on the progress of COP26 negotiations, a session regarding the importance of advocacy, one concerning climate finance, and a panel discussion on loss and damage.
Parliamentarians will also hear from a variety of climate change experts including former President of Ireland, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Chair of the Elders, Mary Robinson on climate justice; Mr Chris Frasetto, ICRC Diplomatic Advisor to the United Nations, on climate change, conflict and humanitarian assistance and Mr Gernot Laganda, WFP Chief of Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction on the impacts of climate change on food insecurity. A range of UK parliamentarians led by the BGIPU Chair, Harriett Baldwin MP and BGIPU Executive Committee member, Chris Law MP, will also be speaking and moderating sessions.
Parliamentarians are expected to adopt an outcome document detailing the collective perspectives, priorities, and ambitions of the international parliamentary community calling for the most ambitious and urgent actions possible by world leaders at COP26. This closing session will be led by Co-Rapporteurs, Ms. Alessia Rotta, appointed by the Italian Parliament, and Mr. Alex Sobel, appointed by the British Group of the IPU.
Watch Live and follow discussions.
Important notice: The IPU and BGIPU are not able to facilitate accreditation to COP26 or to assist with any logistical arrangements for this event, notably visa support or health advice for entry into the UK. Those matters are to be handled by each delegate individually with reference to the official COP26 website.
Logo re-purposed from Rome Pre-COP Meeting with huge thanks to our colleagues at Italian Parliament especially Stefano Bruno and the IPU's Thomas Fitzsimons
