COP26: Take a look behind the scenes of the crucial Glasgow climate talks

ITV News Presenter Mary Nightingale gives you behind the scenes access to where the COP26 talks are taking place


COP26 has been dubbed "12 days to save the planet" - but what actually happens at the climate change summit?

ITV News Presenter Mary Nightingale shows you around the enormous venue in Glasgow where those crucial UN talks will be happening. 

Behind the more than 120 world leaders present, there is a 25,000-strong army of delegates, campaigners, pressure groups and civil servants from almost 200 countries.

They may not be headline-grabbing famous politicians, but they are the people actually doing the negotiations in smaller groups.

Hundreds of small meetings will take place to thrash out the "nitty gritty" of the climate plans over the next two weeks.



Reporting from the venue, ITV News's Mary Nightingale explains: "Political leaders are performing a real balancing act because they have to be seen to be taking the climate emergency seriously because their voters are now taking it very seriously.

"But equally, they can't be seen to be conceding too much because they might then pay a price with voters back home.

"It is a very, very difficult balance. But what can be said, is that everybody here is only too aware that now it's serious.

"That the business of talking has to end soon and the actual business of saving the planet has to get underway."

The COP27 climate conference - what you need to know

What is COP27? When and where will it be?

Each year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meets at what is called the Conference of the Parties (abbreviated as COP) to discuss the world's progress on climate change and how to tackle it.

COP27 is the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties summit which will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from November 6-18.

Who is going?

Leaders of the 197 countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - a treaty that came into force in 1994 - are invited to the summit.

These are some of the world leaders that will be attending COP27:

  • UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is attending the conference, after initially saying he wouldn't as he was too busy focusing on the economy within his first weeks in office.

  • US President Joe Biden and his experienced climate envoy, John Kerry, will appear at the talks.

  • France President Emmanuel Macron will also be among the heads of state from around the world staying in Egypt.

King Charles III will not be attending COP27, despite being a staunch advocate for the environment. The decision was made jointly by Buckingham Palace and former prime minister Liz Truss.

Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will not attend the talks just as they decided to do for COP26.

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What is it hoping to achieve?

1. Ensure full implementation of the Paris Agreement and putting negotiations into concrete actions - included within this is the target of limiting global warming to well below 2C.

2. Cementing progress on the critical workstreams of mitigation, adaptation, finance and loss and damage, while stepping up finance notably to tackle the impacts of climate change.

3. Enhancing the delivery of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the UN Climate Change process.

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