Identity Group set to deliver Cop26 event

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop26) is poised to open its doors to heads of state from around the world at the end of this week, with the eyes of the world watching

The United Nations has held global summits featuring almost every country on Earth – COPS (Conference of the Parties) – for nearly 30 years. Over that time climate change has evolved into the biggest issue threatening the planet. Governments from around the world are committed to reaching new plans for reducing emissions by 2030 – and are going to agree to these plans in Glasgow at Cop26.

As well as being the largest event to take place in the UK this year, Cop26 is widely regarded as vital in the face of a climate emergency. Cop26 will be the largest gathering of heads of state ever to have taken place in the UK. The event will also be attended by climate experts and campaigners and will focus on key issues to deliver change.

The conference will take place across two zones. The Conference, at Glasgow’s Scottish Event Campus (SEC), will host the main negotiations between heads of state and their teams. Over the course of the 12 days, while these talks are taking place the SEC and event perimeter will be in the full glare of worldwide media and subject to a security ring of steel.

The Green Zone will be open to the public from 1–12 November and is located at Glasgow Science Centre. The Green Zone will be structured as a more traditional conference and will host exhibitions, events, workshops and cultural performances from businesses, artists and academia from across the UK. The Green Zone is considered the UK’s opportunity to showcase its innovative projects and technologies.

Michael Gietzen, Identity's managing director said: "Departments from across Identity are working closely with our sustainability team, overseeing the build of a number of temporary structures which are reusable and recyclable, and will be key venues within the ‘zones’. As always with any Identity project, collaboration is the key and Identity are in constant communication with teams from the FCDO and Cabinet Office to ensure everything is being delivered on schedule and to the brief."

Cop26 is a carbon-neutral conference according to the PAS 2060 standard. Sustainability is the cornerstone of delivering Cop26.

As the agency behind the G7 summit earlier this year, Identity has already demonstrated that global events can be delivered sustainably and leave a positive legacy for stakeholders, delegates, and the wider community. Just as with G7, Identity has numerous contingency plans in the event of Covid-19 disrupting the event. Given that Cop26 has already been delayed by a year due to the pandemic, nothing can ever be taken for granted.

It seems as though Cop26 couldn’t be in safer hands.