UN Climate Summit 2020: UK priorities and preparations

Background

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted during the 1992 Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It entered into force in 1994 and has been ratified by 196 States (including both the EU and the UK) which constitute the “Parties” to the Convention. The objective of the Treaty, set out in article 2 of the Convention, is to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”

Every year a Conference of the Parties takes place (known as COPs).

UK’s bid for COP26

Under the UN rules, COP26 will be held in a European country. The UK has bid for COP26 presidency in 2020, in partnership with Italy. Building on previous proposals, the UK has offered to host the COP and Italy the pre-COP event. Turkey has also bid to host COP26.

If the UK is successful, it is expected that the conference will take place at Glasgow’s Scottish Events Campus at the end of 2020.

Former Clean Growth and Energy minister Claire Perry is the UK-nominated president for COP26.

Relevant Library briefings

• Library Briefing paper on Legislating for net zero (27 June 2019)
• Library Briefing paper on Brexit: energy and climate change (5 September 2019)
• Library Briefing paper on Climate change conference (COP24), Katowice, Poland (9 January 2019)
• Library Briefing paper on The Paris Climate Change Conference (27 September 2016)