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Mike Hedges AM Chair Climate Change, Environment, and Rural Affairs Committee |
c/o Clerk to the Committee Room T3.40 The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1SP (RNID Typetalk calls welcome) Tel: 0131 348 5249 ecclr.committee@parliament.scot
6 March 2020 |
Dear Mr Hedges
Engagement with COP26
As we approach COP26, the UN global climate change conference taking place in Glasgow from 9-19 November 2020, our Committee is keen to explore your interest in engaging with sister committees across the UK to consider effective collaborative working and scrutiny. This supports the advice of the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) which recently highlighted the importance of better collaboration across parliaments in addressing the challenge of climate change.
The Committees’ principal focus for COP26 is examining how parliaments can contribute to solutions to the climate crisis and effectively hold governments to account. The Committee also agreed a series of key objectives for engagement with COP26, to:
- improve our scrutiny on climate change by learning from international best practice,
- develop lasting partnerships with national and international organisations and legislatures to support climate change work over the coming decade,
- support our operational work to scrutinise climate change work, and
- co-ordinate, plan and deliver further opportunities offered through COP26 engagement as the UK retains COP26 presidency into 2021.
The Committee would welcome an opportunity to explore your interest in engaging with this, alongside parliamentary committees across the UK. This could culminate in a joint meeting at COP26. The focus of this meeting would be agreed collaboratively, but could include:
· cross UK challenges by issue or theme, such as transport, agriculture and land use or energy; and/or
· examining how parliaments can contribute to solutions to the climate crisis and effectively hold governments to account; and/or
· exploring biodiversity and climate change in the UK – the forthcoming IPBES and IPCC co-sponsored workshop report findings and interaction with the UN Biodiversity COP15 or,
· a coordinated UK-wide CCC Meeting: The CCC will release itsSixth Carbon Budget report in September 2020, and this meeting could discuss high-level policy and ambition goals.
I hope you find this proposal of interest and I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Gillian Martin MSP
Convener
Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee