Glasgow has been selected to host a major UN climate change summit next year, if a UK bid is successful.

The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) would see around 30,000 delegates gather in the city.

The UK Government is bidding to host COP26 over two weeks at the end of 2020, and has announced the conference will be held at Glasgow's Scottish Events Campus (SEC) on the banks of the River Clyde.

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It would be the largest summit the UK has ever held, with up to 200 world leaders expected to attend for the final weekend.

Former minister Claire Perry, nominated as COP26 president, said: "As one of the UK's most sustainable cities, with a record for hosting high-profile international events, Glasgow is the right choice to showcase the UK's commitment to the environment.

"In 2020, world leaders will come together to discuss how to protect our planet and set the direction for the years to come."

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At COP21 in Paris in 2015, participating countries reached a landmark agreement to keep a global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The UK Government said that five years on, COP26 will be the first major test of the international community's commitment to scale-up efforts to reduce emissions.

Lang Banks, director at WWF Scotland said: “The news that Glasgow could host this event is very exciting. This will be a vital milestone in the global response to the growing climate crisis.

"The fossil fuel era began in Scotland and in 2020 the global community must come to Glasgow and say that this will be the last fossil fuel generation and that we are ready to take on the climate and nature emergencies we face.

“This would be a huge event and the Scottish and UK governments must be ready to show that we have our own houses in order and have strong climate emergency plans in place. Scotland is already generating 75 per cent of its electricity needs from renewables and aiming to end the sale of fossil fuel vehicles by 2032.

"COP26 in Glasgow would be an opportunity to put our leadership and our zero-carbon economy on the world stage but we also need to put in place more concrete actions at home.”