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COP26 reflections and resources

In November 2021, COP26 brought almost every country together for the global climate summit held in Glasgow. During the critical 26th annual conference, nations aimed to reach an agreement to tackling the climate emergency and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

World leaders, negotiators, businesses, representatives, and citizens visited Scotland for 12 days of talks, events, and exhibitions to scale up ambitions, inspire action and exchange knowledge from around the world.

Numerous negotiations, announcements and agreements were made by world leaders and thousands of participants from around the globe. Some of these included:

  • The Glasgow Climate Pact - setting the global agenda on climate change for the next decade. (However, it is not legally binding).
  • The US-China agreement to tackle CO2 emissions
  • Promises by over 100 countries to stop deforestation and cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030
  • Financial organisations agreed to back 'clean' technology such as renewable energy and direct finance away from fossil fuel-burning industries.

Reflections and resources

Delve into a selection of reflections and resources from across the ECCI network, including event videos, Q+A session recordings, blogs, podcasts and other resources:

  • Was COP26 a success? ECCI director Prof Dave Reay offers his reflections on the two-week long conference and the implications for the host nation in the coming months and years.
  • Sustainable Scotland Network's post-COP conference COP26...What now?: designed to reflect on the outcomes of the meeting and support building public sector capacity to deliver on net zero
  • Good Cop or bad COP?: COP26 blog from R S Haszeldine, Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage Director - incremental progress was made in Glasgow, but change needs to happen faster
  • PCAN Podcast: ECCI's Jamie Brogan and Simon Moore, from the University of Leeds, talk to COP26 delegates about the relationship between global negotiations and local level climate action
  • ECCI-supported Green Career Pathways: recorded at COP26 on Sunday 7 November 2021, including the excellent Q+A session
  • ECCI-supported UK-Africa Partnerships for Climate Action: recorded during COP26 on Saturday 6 November
  • SAGES Stories: Scottish science for a climate-ready future: Online events series that showcased the breadth of scientific research across Scotland. From Arctic sea ice to Highland peatlands, environmental science experts share pioneering, positive stories of how researchers work together to understand our world and provide solutions to the climate emergency.
  • Held 6 months before the conference, in May 2020, Climate Exp0 was the first virtual conference organised by the COP26 Universities Network and the Italian University Network for Sustainable Development (RUS).
  • The excellent COPcast series, from the University of Edinburgh Business School, featuring ECCI's Director Dave Reay (November 2020)
  • ECCI-hosted Climate, Covid and COP26 - world-renowned climate scientist and communicator Professor Katharine Hayhoe joined leading by experts from across the University of Edinburgh (June 2020)

The importance of COP26

Check out the University of Edinburgh's excellent resource portal, reflecting on the importance of COP26 and the contributions made by University of Edinburgh staff and academics.