Coronavirus: Glasgow COP26, to be held in November, postponed

The coronavirus has even got the better of COP26, which was to be held in Glasgow in November. "Given the global and continuous impact of Covid-19, holding an ambitious and inclusive COP26 in November 2020 is no longer possible," the British government announced on Wednesday on its website. The summit will indeed take place in the Scottish city but in 2021, on a date which will be communicated later.

"The world is facing an unprecedented global challenge and countries are rightly focusing on the fight against Covid-19. For this reason, COP26 is postponed," said its president Alok Sharma in a tweet.

The world is facing an unprecedented global challenge & countries are rightly focusing on fighting # COVID19.

Due to this, # COP26 has been postponed.

We will continue working with partners to deliver the ambition needed to tackle the climate crisis & agree a new date 🌍

UN Secretary of State for Climate Change Patricia Espinosa said "Covid-19 is the most urgent threat facing humanity today", still calling for no "forget that climate change is the biggest threat (...) in the long term", according to remarks quoted in the press release from the British government.

"Understandable"

"Postponing the UN summit on the climate is understandable," reacted Sebastian Mang of the environmental NGO Greenpeace, warning however that "it does (has) nothing to do with the obligation that the European Union has raise its climate target for 2030 before the end of the year. "

The association for the fight against poverty, Oxfam, also deemed the postponement of the summit in the face of the pandemic totally "understandable". "But that doesn't have to mean we have to stop our vital efforts to respond to a climate crisis that is already threatening lives," warned acting director Chema Vera. "Governments must avoid repeating the same mistakes as those made after the 2008 global financial crisis, when the stimulus packages caused a rebound in CO2 emissions," she added.

With AFP

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