Road to COP26:
Virtual inter-parliamentary meeting on climate
change
24 June 2021, Zoom, 14.00-15.00 (CEST)
Concept note
Background and context
Climate change is one of the greatest threats to global prosperity, development and to the well-being of
people around the world. The impacts of climate change are increasing in many places and there is an
urgent need to accelerate climate action. The 26
th
United Nations Climate Change Conference of the
Parties (COP26) will take place from 1-12 November 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. It will bring
together parties from around the world to advance action on climate change to meet the goals and
objectives of the Paris Agreement and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). Given the far-reaching and cross-border impacts of climate change, it is imperative that
countries work together to address this crisis.
Parliaments, with their core legislative, oversight, budgetary and representation functions, are key to
ensuring the implementation of the climate change goals contained in the Paris Agreement, as well as
climate-change related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Parliaments are essential for the
translation of international climate change commitments into country level action, for example through
nationally-appropriate legislation and sufficient budget allocations. Furthermore, as climate change is a
global issue that does not recognize borders, strong inter-parliamentary cooperation is crucial for finding
international solutions that ensure all countries are able to prepare for, cope with, and address it.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has made supporting parliaments in addressing climate change a
priority. A number of IPU resolutions on climate change have been adopted, including most recently one
entitled
Addressing climate change
(2019) and another,
Parliamentary strategies to strengthen peace and
security against threats and conflicts resulting from climate-related disasters and their consequences
(2021).
To encourage parliamentary action on climate change, the IPU has mobilized parliaments around
COP for many years. This year, the IPU is working the Italian Chamber of Deputies and the British Group
of the IPU to co-organize two upcoming meetings for parliaments. Firstly, there will be a Pre-COP26
Parliamentary Meeting on 8-9 October 2021 in Rome, Italy. This will be followed by the Parliamentary
Meeting at COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom on 7 November, 2021 (date TBC). The expected
outcome of both of these meetings will be an outcome document that is expected to charter a course for
increased parliamentary action on climate change.
Objectives
Prior to the COP26-related parliamentary meetings in Rome and Glasgow, the IPU is organizing a virtual
inter-parliamentary meeting, in collaboration with the British Group of the IPU and Italian Chamber of
Deputies. This meeting will provide parliamentarians with a brief overview of COP26. It will also provide
them with the opportunity to meet the rapporteurs from the UK and Italy that will draft the COP26 outcome
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