Entering Overtime: The Race to Deliver the Glasgow Climate Pact
A conversation with
Alok Sharma
President of COP26
and
Alexander N. Halliday
Founding Dean of the Columbia Climate School; Director of the Earth Institute; Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Welcome and Introduction by:
Lee C. Bollinger
President of Columbia University in the City of New York
As President of the 26th UN Conference on Climate Change, COP26, British Cabinet Minister Alok Sharma marshalled nearly 200 countries to forge the historic Glasgow Climate Pact. The science is clear that, thanks to that Pact and the commitments made in Glasgow, the prospect of limiting the average rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is still alive. In the months since COP26, Sharma has continued to engage with governments, companies, and communities around the world–he has now visited around 50 countries as COP President–to turn the Glasgow Pact’s promises into action. Today’s address will reflect on his time as COP President, the progress made in Glasgow and in the months since, and the urgent need to go further, and faster, as we look to COP27 and beyond.
Columbia University students are invited to participate in a moderated question and answer session following the discussion.
Cosponsored by the Center on Global Economic Governance and Columbia Climate School.