Man Met delegation prepares for COP26 to set target for net zero carbon emissions
- Delegation led by MMU Professor Liz Price will contribute to negotiations over reducing carbon emissions to net zero
A group of specialists in climate change and sustainability at Man Met are travelling to Glasgow to take part in the UN climate change conference next week.
The 11-strong delegation to Cop26 includes specialists in ecology, climate resilience, sustainability and carbon literacy.
The university is already a participant in the Greater Manchester Green Summit conference series, which has set goals for the city region to be carbon neutral by 2038.
Leader of the MMU delegation, Professor Liz Price told Northern Quota: “We’d like to show that actually if Manchester can do it by 2038, then let’s be ambitious.”
It comes as the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, told BBC Breakfast his key message to world leaders ahead of the summit was that holding the global temperature increase to 1.5C was both important and achievable, but it required “science-based” urgent action.
“We need collaboration internationally across science to make sure that we get science innovation across the world globally accessible, and we need to build capacity for research and development in those countries which need it in order to get to the solution,” Sir Patrick said.
It is a message echoed by Professor Price. She said she is hopeful ahead of the conference, but success will depend on governments acting quickly:
“If we take positive action, and everyone else takes positive action, then cumulatively that will make a difference.
“And we’ve just got to be on a mission to do it.
“If not us, then who?”