Prez to attend COP26 in Glasgow

by Sujeeva Nivunhella reporting from London

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is to attend the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) scheduled to be held at the Scottish Event Campus in the city of Glasgow, Scotland from next Sunday (31) to Nov 12.

Diplomatic sources said that the President would be accompanied by Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, State Minister of Solar, Wind and Grid Power Generation Projects Development Duminda Dissanayake, Foreign Secretary Admiral Jayanath Colombage and Lankan High Commissioner in London Saroja Sirisena.

COP26 is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference bringing parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

World Leaders will agree to step up efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to make finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development and by uniting behind a green recovery from coronavirus, which creates sustainable jobs and addresses the urgent and linked challenges of public health, climate change, and biodiversity loss, we can safeguard the environment for future generations.

There will be around 120 heads of state attending this summit. Queen Elizabeth II has confirmed her attendance. While former US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, incumbent President Joe Biden is planning to rejoin and said that he cannot wait to attend the Glasgow summit.

The summit took an early blow as the Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s invitation and the Kremlin confirmed that he would not attend. So far, Chinese President Xi Jinping has not confirmed his participation and it is widely expected that he too would turn down the invitation.

Observers note that while the conference is aimed at tackling global carbon emissions, it will be harder to make meaningful international progress if big emitters like China and Russia fail to participate.