COP26 - 01/11/21

By Hannah Beirne

Whilst there were some notable absences in the Blue Zone, across the river the Green Zone was filled with voices demanding to #letusin. I started the day with a discussion on the pressure placed on young people to “clean up the mess” left behind by others, and the lack of voice that they have despite this crippling responsibility.

This was followed by the launch of the Global Assembly, with a speech from Nicola Sturgeon who has been omitted from delegations thus far. The Global Citizen’s Assembly has a core of 100 people, chosen at random from around the world to represent a snapshot of the planet’s population. Together they learnt about the climate and ecological crisis, and today presented proposals to resolve these issues. They also launched a toolkit to help communities set up their own assemblies!

After a short walk through a rainforest and a visit to the Antarctic ice core (which bought memories of my University days flooding back – no pun intended!), my final event of the day was a trip to the future via an interactive gameshow, hosted by members of Cranfield and Warwick Universities. Together, we explored how decisions of businesses, policy makers, civil society organisations and individuals shape the future of a net zero world.

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Hannah arriving in Glasgow on Monday

COP26, Day One