COP26: Sense of hope needed on climate change - Drakeford

Mark Drakeford says people find 'the whole business of climate change dispiriting'

The global climate change summit COP26 must deliver "a sense of hope for people for the future," Wales' first minister has said.

Action from world leaders would inspire confidence in the public to make changes in their own lives, he claimed.

Talks are set to get under way in Glasgow to try and curb global warming.

The aim is to cap the rise at an average of 1.5C, with highly damaging impacts forecast if that threshold is breached.

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Analysis of current plans by the world's countries puts the planet on course for closer to 2.7C of warming by the end of the century.

'A problem we can solve'

The heating is being driven by excess concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which are mainly produced by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Mr Drakeford said it was important for the world to show at COP26 "this is a problem we can solve".

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Currently people found "the whole business of climate change dispiriting," he suggested.

"They find the language that is used alienating, they think there is nothing they themselves can do."

The Welsh government is attending COP26 as part of the UK delegation, with the summit itself hosted by the UK government who will lead on top level negotiations.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the conference must "mark the beginning of the end of climate change".

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He has called for agreements on phasing out use of coal, stopping deforestation, speeding up the shift to electric transport and more financial support for developing countries.

Mr Drakeford told BBC Wales he would be concentrating on meetings with leaders from other "small nations determined to make a difference".

The Welsh government is part of the Under 2 coalition, a group of 260 state and regional governments that will be represented at the conference.

A cross-party delegation of Welsh politician will be heading to Glasgow to join other world leaders

He said he wanted "very much to learn from what people are doing elsewhere to see what we can draw from their experience to make an even bigger difference here in Wales".

"When the planet is burning that isn't somebody else's problem - that is a problem here in Wales as well," he said.

'Wales' voice must be heard'

"The extreme weather events that we've seen over recent winters, the fact that our coastline is already being eroded - those problems will only go on getting worse."

A cross-party delegation of Members of the Senedd (MSs) and several Welsh MPs is also heading to the event, which lasts for a fortnight.

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Plaid Cymru's Llyr Gruffydd, chair of the Senedd's climate change committee, said Wales' voice "must be heard at COP26".

"Even though Wales is a small country, it can also have a big impact, by setting an example. We have already seen some progress from the Welsh government, but it needs to start translating its good intentions into decisive actions," he said.

Meanwhile Welsh business leaders, charities and environmental campaigners are among those setting up stalls at the conference's green zone - a giant exhibition of innovation and ideas to fight climate change.

Chair of Wales' Youth Climate Ambassadors programme Poppy Stowell-Evans has been invited to take part in events in both the green zone as well as the blue zone - where the key negotiations are taking place.

Mark Drakeford said he would be focussing on meeting other "small nations determined to make a difference"

The 17-year-old said she and her fellow campaigners wanted to make it clear "to other young people that conferences like COP are a place for them too".

"I genuinely think that without the movement of young people climate change wouldn't be so high on world leaders' agendas," she said.

"So going to COP I really want to be part of that and to push the voice of young people into an area where they haven't always been represented."

Across Wales, the Welsh Government is hosting a series of events as part of the green zone programme - under the banner COP Cymru.

Wales' contribution to the policing effort in Glasgow is also obvious on the city's streets in the form of rows of police vans from Wales marked Heddlu.

Some 10,000 officers from across the UK will be deployed each day in and around the conference site.

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