6 facts you should know about the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow

The conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November is being billed as the most important climate change meeting ever.

The United Nations Climate Conference will be the largest international climate change summit ever hosted by Britain, with over 30,000 delegates – including heads of states, climate experts and campaigners – expected to attend.

It will be hosted by Britain in partnership with Italy at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, from Nov 1 to 12. Malaysia will also be attending.

The following are quick facts about this important meeting:

1) Italy will host a major youth event as well as the Pre-COP Summit in September 2021. COP stands for Conference of the Parties, which are countries that have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The conference in 2021 will be its 26th meeting, hence COP26.

2) Alok Sharma, a Conservative British MP, will preside over the conference after former British prime minister David Cameron declined.

3) Celebrated British naturalist and documentary filmmaker David Attenborough has been named the “People’s Advocate” and tasked to “inspire action” from world leaders and decision-makers in the months leading up to the conference.

4) Hailed as the most significant climate event since the Paris Agreement in 2015, COP26 will be the year that countries submit their intended nationally-determined contributions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the last meeting was postponed in 2020 duen to the Covid-19 pandemic.

5) Also expected are new decisions on how to cut carbon emissions.

6) Last month, on April 22 and 23, the United States hosted a virtual climate summit with some countries to indicate its return to the Paris Agreement after former president Donald Trump pulled the country out. Here's what the five biggest greenhouse gas emitters pledged during that summit:

• China: The host for the UN Biodiversity Conference inOctober reiterated its commitment to reaching its peak in carbon emissions before 2030 and to achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.
• India: India and the US will launch a joint clean energy initiative to help developing countries with affordable access to green financing and clean technologies.
• Japan: It aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 46% in fiscal year 2030 as compared with levels in fiscal year 2013.
• Russia: It called for the halving of methane emissions and urged countries to take part in joint research and invest in climate projects which have a practical effect.
• United States: President Joe Biden’s administration has committed to cutting US greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.