CCR will attend the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference as part of SWITCH – South Wales Industrial Transition from Carbon Hub. This unique academic-industrial-business collaboration aims to decarbonise the industrial base and communities in the region; with CCR’s participation at the Summit providing the platform to contribute to key discussions, build an international decarbonisation network, exhibit the CCR Energy Vision & Strategy in a conference setting – and make a meaningful contribution in light of the UK’s G7 presidency.
As part of the COP26 commitment, the CCR Cabinet has agreed to apply to be part of Race to Zero – a global campaign focused on rallying leadership across business, cities, regions and investors to create a healthy, resilient and zero carbon recovery that unlocks sustainable and inclusive growth.
Robert O’Dwyer, the Head of Infrastructure at Cardiff Capital Region chats to Business News Wales about CCR’s involvement in COP26.
Robert said:
“The forthcoming COP26 event is clearly a fantastic opportunity to share some great work that is underway within South East Wales but it is also, a great opportunity to learn some new ideas from around the world.”
CCR joins 708 cities, 24 regions, c.2400 businesses, 163 global investors and 624 HE institutions in the Race to Zero – and this is no passive commitment: demanding that minimum criteria must be met, backed by pledges, formal support and publication of a robust plan. This represents a significant challenge in terms of timeframes – but signing up to this global endeavour signifies the City Region’s serious commitment to Net Zero.
Beyond the Race to Zero commitment, full endorsement was also given by Cabinet for CCR to sign up to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP): a worldwide environmental disclosure system that helps cities, regions and companies disclose their environmental data and impact. CDP is a globally recognised reporting framework that allows local governments to present one unified platform for climate reporting – streamlining the process of reporting and ensuring simplicity and standardisation.
Robert stresses that it is vitally important to target the opportunities to meet the targets set by the net zero carbon goal of 2050. In attending COP26, Cardiff Capital Region looks set to certainly do that.
