COP26 is an international climate change conference held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It stands for ‘conference of the parties’ and is the 26th meeting of the parties to the UNFCCC. It is being held between 31 October and 12 November 2021. On 18 November 2021, the House of Lords is due to debate the outcomes of the conference.
COP26: aims, goals and progress (304 KB , PDF)
On 18 November 2021, the House of Lords is due to debate a motion moved by Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour) that “this House takes note of the outcome of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and the challenges of implementing measures to tackle climate change”.
COP26 is an international climate change conference held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It stands for ‘conference of the parties’ and is the 26th meeting of the parties to the UNFCCC. COP26 is ongoing and runs from 31 October to 12 November 2021. It is being held in Glasgow under the UK’s presidency and in partnership with Italy.
Described by the UK Government as “an event many believe to be the world’s last best chance to get runaway climate change under control”, the conference will be attended by world leaders and many negotiators, government representatives, businesses, and citizens. The goals of the conference are to:
COP26 will continue work on implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting global temperature increase to “well below” 2.0 degrees celsius on pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees celsius.
Parties to the Paris Agreement set ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs) that contain information on targets, policies and measures for reducing national emissions and on adapting to climate change impacts. The UN has said that the combined effect of the NDCs will determine whether the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement are met. However, an update on NDCs in October 2021 by UN Climate Change suggested that there was an “urgent need” to increase the level of ambition of NDCs to keep warming well below 2 degrees celsius or to limit it to 1.5 degrees (based on scenarios considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
The COP26 website describes Paris as setting the destination and has said that “Glasgow must make it a reality”.
Section 4 of this briefing was updated on 15 November 2021 with high-level outcomes of the conference.
COP26: aims, goals and progress (304 KB , PDF)
The Environment Act 2021 requires the government to publish an environmental principles policy statement outlining how environmental principles should be interpreted and applied by ministers when making policy. A draft of the first statement to be made under the act was laid before Parliament on 11 May 2022 and is due to be discussed by the Lords on 30 June 2022.
The UK signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, in 2012. On 17 May 2022, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that the UK’s laws were now compliant with the treaty and the government intended to ratify. The House of Lords International Agreements Committee has welcomed the ratification, but has expressed concern about two reservations the UK wishes to make from the treaty.
On 8 July 2022, the second reading of the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill [HL] is scheduled to take place. This bill seeks to improve air quality in England and Wales. It would establish a human right to clean air and would require the government to limit the concentration of pollutants in the air in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines and scientific evidence.
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