As residents will know, the UK recently had the honour of hosting the 26th UN Climate Change Conference. While we were sadly not able to achieve everything we hoped, I was strongly encouraged by the progress and agreements achieved. COP President Alok Sharma has done a fantastic job and has rightly been praised across the world for the role he has played. The Glasgow Climate Pact calls on countries to accelerate efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal power and phaseout of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, while providing targeted support to the poorest and most vulnerable, in line with national circumstances and recognising the need for support towards a just transition.
I know from conversations with constituents and from the flow of emails in my inbox, how important the issue of climate change is to residents in Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, and so I was particularly pleased to see that the COP26 team went to a lot of effort to ensure that all voices in our global community were included through the setting up of the COP26 civil society and youth advisory council. I recently visited West Lodge Primary School in Pinner who took the opportunity to directly contribute to the conference virtually. Not only is it important that these young voices are heard, but it was great to see the passion they had for their environment. I was pleased to seek assurances from Alok Sharma that for the remainder of our presidency year, the voices of young people will be integral to driving climate action.
First published: My Local News, December 2021
