If there was any doubt that climate change would be an influential topic in Scotland over the next year, the announcement that Glasgow is to be host city for the United Nations Climate Change Summit in November 2020 dismisses it.
The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) will bring up to 30,000 delegates and near to 200 world leaders to Glasgow in the next phase of global negotiations on a response to our warming planet. This will be one of the most important gatherings of global power tackling a fundamental world issue and it will be happening in Scotland’s biggest city.
It has been said, as one of the first cities of the industrial revolution that set the world on the path not just to extraordinary growth but also to the despoliation of our planet, that Glasgow is exactly the right city for tackling climate change.
But I would hardly blame the early inventors, industrialists and merchants for consequences they could not possibly have understood 250 years ago, nor would I support the demonisation of businesses and free trade that characterises some of the more extreme language amongst climate change protestors.
If climate change is to be reversed successfully it needs the fullest co-operation of citizens, governments and businesses across the world.
As examples, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce supported the City Council’s recent climate change emergency working group setting the target for the city’s carbon neutrality by 2030; ScottishPower has already made a dramatic shift to renewables and is now committing to a mass roll out of electric vehicle charging across the city; and the Chamber is vigorously arguing for measures to help the development of a circular economy in collaboration with both Zero Waste Scotland and the city council.
Glasgow is also a city of science and innovation. Over the past five years it has consistently ranked amongst the top 100 most innovative cities in the world and the presence of low carbon technology companies is well above global averages. We need our scientists and engineers to develop the technologies that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
Where better than for those technologies to emerge from the innovation districts currently being developed by the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow.
COP26 is an opportunity to show just how much Glasgow can contribute both to solving climate change and to laying the foundations for our next phase of economic growth.
Stuart Patrick is chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here