UNEP at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26)Uniting the world to tackle climate change

UNEP at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) Uniting the world to tackle climate change

31 October – 12 November 2021

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy, will take place from 31 October to 12 November 2021 in the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, UK.

Ahead of COP26 the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, and the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, launched UNEP's flagship Emissions Gap Report 2021. Now in its 12th year, the report provides a yearly review of the difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

From 31 October to 12 November 2021, UNEP will host a series of events and launches. These events will provide a platform for in-depth conversations on the latest thinking, reports, science, data and action on environmental issues.

Highlight

4 November 2021 Launch of UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report

Raising awareness on the gap in climate adaptation and assessing progress towards bridging the adaptation gap, this year’s Adaptation Gap Report will be published at the start of COP26 and will focus on assessing the global progress on adaptation planning and the emerging implications of COVID-19 on global adaptation processes. There will be a press conference to launch the report.

Key report launches

• 31 October 2021: The International Methane Emissions Observatory Annual Report, which will be presented at the EU pavilion, describes how state actors can take action to curb methane emissions from the fossil fuel industry, and what progress has been made as part of the decarbonization process, particularly in the energy sector. The report seeks to provide decision makers with a framework of action to track and monitor methane emissions to plan targeted and ambitious action for their mitigation.

• 4 November 2021: The “Economics of Peatlands Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Management” Policy Report highlights the economic opportunity of protecting, restoring and sustainably managing peatlands as a triple win for the climate, biodiversity and people. It provides the rationale for investing in peatlands, presenting innovative private and public financing mechanisms, together with novel policy initiatives, to overcome the current undervaluation and underfunding of peatlands and promote this ecosystem as a nature-based solution. This will be one of many side events at the Peatlands Pavilion.

What else to watch out for:

• 4 November 2021: High Level Side-event: “Financing forest action: investing in forests to address the climate crisis” - Despite the tremendous mitigation potential offered by tropical forests, this solution to the climate crisis remains underfunded. This event will bring together high-level decision makers from forest countries to discuss catalytic opportunities to scale up finance for forest action necessary to keep global warming below 1.5C.

• 9 November 2021: Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC): Climate & Clean Air Ministerial - The meeting will see the launch a "Methane Flagship" and adopt a "2030 Strategy." Major pledges to the CCAC Trust Fund are expected, approximately 20 million USD.

• 10th November 2021: Launch - A Net Zero Roadmap for Travel and Tourism – proposing a new target framework for the travel and tourism sector - The session will offer first-hand information about the path to net zero. Industry leaders will share their goals, actions, and insights on how to ensure success moving forward.

• Find out what UNEP FI is doing at COP26 to bring the latest climate commitments made by UNEP FI members to the attention of policymakers.

*This list of events does not serve as a comprehensive or official programme of UNEP-organized events and activities. These events are subject to change.