Connie Hedegaard: The EU must step up in Glasgow

As world leaders prepare to gather for COP26 next month, expectations for progress are low, even as the need to address climate change becomes more urgent, writes Connie Hedegaard

Real money and real emissions reductions need to emerge from Glasgow. Climate activists, Vanessa Nakate, of Uganda, and Greta Thunberg, of Sweden, (background center), gather for a Fridays for Future protest in Milan, Italy, earlier this month. Photo: Claudio Furlan/LaPresse Via AP

The United Kingdom’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, may not appeal to everyone – especially European Union leaders put off by Brexit. But the UK is hosting the latest round of global climate negotiations, COP26, in Glasgow next month, so the EU must put aside its issues with Johnson and come ready to work.

Up to this point, the history of the global climate talks held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is a tale of two European cities: Copenhagen and Paris.