The UK has said that it wants to push back the date of the COP26 UN climate change summit until November next year.
A letter from the Cabinet Office to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), sent yesterday, states that the government is proposing new dates of 1-12 November for holding the global conference, which was originally due to be held later this year.
The government postponed the summit, which is due to be hosted in Glasgow, in April due to the uncertainty and travel difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Italian and UK governments, which are co-hosting COP26, have concluded that the revised date provides the “lowest risk of postponement” given the “uneven” spread of the virus across the world.
It says the factors it has taken into account include the health of potential participants, ensuring key parties are represented and allowing time to adequately prepare for the event.
A key preparatory meeting, which was due to have been held in Germany this month, was also postponed in April and its timing remains subject to further revision.
The COP Bureau of the UNFCCC will meet tomorrow (28 May) to decide on the revised timescale for holding the event.
The next COP summit is seen as a key gathering because UN member states will be expected to produce concrete plans for how they propose to implement the climate change commitments they signed up to at the 2015 Paris summit.