UCL Uncovering Politics

COP26 in Review: Reflections on Glasgow

Episode Summary

This week we are reflecting on the COP26 climate conference. Was the meeting in Glasgow a success? Or, did it fall short of expectations?

Episode Notes

Today we’re taking a retrospective look at the outcomes of the COP-26 conference that was held in Glasgow earlier this month. COP – or Conference of the Parties – is the annual UN climate change conference. A key aim of the conference was to ‘keep 1.5°C alive’ – but was enough progress made on cutting emissions to reach this goal? Have rich countries stepped up to the plate by agreeing to pay for loss and damage in poorer countries? And, are we making progress fast enough?

We have three leading experts on these matters here at UCL, and they join me now. 

• Jared Finnegan is Lecturer in Public Policy. Before joining UCL he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley and Princeton University. His research investigates how governments, voters, and business understand and address long-term societal challenges, particularly climate change
• Fergus Green is Lecturer in Political Theory and Public Policy. His research normative analysis of public policy and on processes of political change, especially concerning climate change and decarbonisation.
• Lisa Vanhala is Professor of Political Science and the Principal Investigator of the ERC funded Climate Change Loss and Damage research project.