United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP26

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This was a major international event with profound significance for the future of global climate and through that the health and well-being of biodiversity, ecosystems, societies, and economies.  

It represented an opportunity for the University to demonstrate its commitment and standing in helping quantify and address the challenges of climate change, locally and globally. The University established a COP Working Group to help the University identify strategic opportunities to engage with the conference, aid communication across the University (city and region) about the significance of the event, and the range of COP26-related activities University staff engaged in and coordinate the University’s delegation of staff and student attending the conference.  

As part of its efforts to contribute to the conference and communicate its ambition to address the challenges of climate change the University completed the following. 

• Secured commitment from the University to sequester unavoidable emissions through a forests and peatlands project.
• On the eve of COP26, the University launched the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, which will act as a focal point for the University’s world-leading research on climate, and aims to support global partnerships to deliver climate solutions.  
• Established a short-life working group on embedded climate and sustainability in the curriculum to support the University’s Curriculum Transformation Project.
• Created short online courses on climate and sustainability.
• Issued 28 observer passes to University staff and students.
• Hosted and contributed to a range of international events and side events. There were hundreds of engagements spanning students and staff from across the University, and hosting of events with Heads of State and senior government ministers from across the World.
• Actively contributed through the sharing of research with national delegations, observing negotiations, analysing key discussions for public audiences and advocacy through its membership of the COP26 Universities Network.  

Going forward, the COP Working Group will have a responsibility to help oversee the University’s engagement with future United Nations-level events in the climate, biodiversity, and ocean domains. 

The University of Edinburgh at COP 26

COP26 and the climate crisis