Less than a week to go!

COP26, Glasgow, 31st October – 12th November – the final furlong is in sight. While the teams and departments across Identity have been working on a multitude of event planning aspects for months already, this certainly feels like a big milestone.

Now seems like a good opportunity to give some background into why COP26 matters and how Identity is preparing to deliver the largest and most sustainable, high-profile project in our history.

The United Nations has held global summits featuring almost every country on Earth – COPS (Conference of the Parties) – for nearly 30 years. Over that time climate change has evolved into the biggest issue threatening our planet. Governments from around the world are committed to reaching new plans for reducing emissions by 2030 – and are going to agree these plans in Glasgow at COP26.

As well as being the largest event to take place in the UK this year, COP26 is widely regarded as ‘vital’ in the face of a climate emergency. COP26 will be the largest gathering of heads of state ever to have taken place in the UK. The event will also be attended by climate experts and campaigners and will focus on key issues to deliver change.

The conference will take place across two zones. The Conference, at Glasgow’s Scottish Event Campus (SEC), will host the main negotiations between heads of state and their teams. Over the course of the 12 days, these talks are taking place, the SEC and event perimeter will be in the full glare of worldwide media and subject to a security ring of absolute steel.

The Green Zone will be open to the public from 1 – 12 November and is located at Glasgow Science Centre. The Green Zone will be structured as a more traditional conference and will host exhibitions, events, workshops and cultural performances from businesses, artists and academia from across the UK. The Green Zone is considered the UK’s opportunity to showcase its innovative projects and technologies.

All of the project teams are working closely with Identity’s sustainability team, overseeing the build of a number of temporary structures which are reusable and recyclable, and will be key venues within the ‘zones’. As always with any Identity project, collaboration is the key and Identity are in constant communication with teams from the FCDO and Cabinet Office to ensure everything is being delivered on schedule and to the brief.

Identity’s Media and Graphics teams are also hard at work. They are working closely with Identity’s Sustainability team to ensure that COP26 is a carbon-neutral conference according to the PAS 2060 standard. Sustainability is the cornerstone of delivering COP26.

We are continually reminding ourselves of the COP26 Sustainability Governing Principles, Identity demonstrated, brilliantly, at G7 that global events can be delivered sustainably and leave a positive legacy for stakeholders, delegates and the wider community. Just as with G7, Identity has numerous contingency plans in the event of Covid-19 disrupting the event. Given that COP26 has already been delayed by a year due to the pandemic, nothing can ever be taken for granted. Our digital team have been working very closely with HMG in order to create and deliver the COP Platform should delegates be unable to attend in person.

So, while we have another busy few weeks ahead of us, Identity’s teams of exceptionally experienced and talented events professionals are relishing the challenge and looking forward to showcasing their expertise.

It seems as though COP26 couldn’t be in safer hands.