COP26: Why is COP26 in Glasgow? Why world leaders are travelling to Scotland this week

The climate summit is expected to attract more than 30,000 people to Glasgow over the coming fortnight.

Glasgow is due to be the host of COP26, the climate summit of the year attracting more than 30,000 attendees and over 100 world leaders to the Scottish city.

Other famous faces, like Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough, are also scheduled to make appearances.

The Scottish city will also be filled with protests and other COP26-aligned events, which are expected to cause disruptions across the central belt of Scotland and even reaching across to Edinburgh.

The location of COP events is decided by the COP Bureau each year. Photo: JPI Media.

Here’s all you need to know about why Glasgow was selected and who might host the next COP.

Who hosted the last COP event?

The last COP was held in Madrid, in December 2019.

COP25 took place under the Presidency of the Government of Chile and was supported logistically by the Government of Spain.

It ran from December 2nd to December 9th in 2019, with the pre-sessional period running from November 25th to December 1st.

Why is COP26 in Glasgow?

This year, Glasgow was chosen by the COP Bureau to host COP26.

It was originally planned for 2020, but was delayed due to the pandemic.

The UK and Italy were selected to for the COP26 Presidency as part of a joint bid to the COP Bureau.

The pre-COP event took place in Milan in Italy from September 30th to October 2nd.

The UK then selected Glasgow as the host city, largely due to its experience in hosting world class events, commitment to sustainability, and first-rate facilities.

For example Glasgow was awarded the status of Global Green City by the Global Forum on Human Settlements at their Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards Ceremony 2020.

The city also has the target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 and is currently ranked fourth in the world in the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index).

Who will host COP27?

It’s not yet decided who will hold the Presidency and therefore host COP27.

However, according to Reuters, U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry said on Saturday October 23rd that Egypt had already been selected as the nominee to host the COP27 U.N. climate conference due to take place next year.

This is yet to be confirmed by the COP Bureau, with the summit due to take place in 2022.