“At the COP26 conference in Glasgow, important global negotiations will be held and agreements will be reached to reduce emission levels, adapt to climate change and arrange climate finance. Increasing climate ambitions is essential if we are to reduce or limit global warming to well below 2°C, and even better to 1.5°C, compared to the pre-industrial era, and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050,” said Andrej Vizjak, Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning of Slovenia.

The 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP26) will be hosted by the United Kingdom in partnership with Italy, after a one-year break due to COVID-19, and also for the first time after the entry into force of the Paris Agreement (on 1 January 2021). This will also be the moment when a review and assessment of the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of greenhouse gas emission reductions that countries were required to transmit to the UNFCCC Secretariat under the Paris Agreement will be made. The EU submitted them at the end of last year. Against this background, COP26 in Glasgow is expected to be one of the most important climate change conferences since the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

The main objective of COP26 is to make progress in raising ambitions in three areas: reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the extent that global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees, adapting to climate change and mobilising additional financial resources in line with the commitments given to developing countries. In particular, fulfilling the promise of a financial target will help to advance other topics; developing partner countries link funding to maintaining mutual trust.

An important objective of the Conference is also the completion of work on the Implementation Rules of the Paris Agreement (called the Rulebook), in particular with regard to the important issue of Article 6, which remained unresolved at COP24 in Katowice and COP25 in Madrid.  This would ensure that the Conference of the Parties adopts a decision on a common time frame and a transparency rule. Achieving progress towards these objectives is a key priority of the Slovenian Presidency.

As the country currently holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU, Slovenia is making every effort to successfully represent the views of the EU in international relations and in negotiations with third countries before and during the COP in Glasgow.

More information on the agenda is available on the COP26 website

More information on COP26 Conference