The obvious green option was electric cars when COP26 organizers revealed the vehicles that would transport VIPs to the global environmental summit.
It has been revealed that there are not enough power points to charge the fleet in Glasgow. This means that huge generators will need to be shipped in to provide the required energy.
There are fewer than 250 electric charging points in the city – about one for every 23 such cars.
Crowds marching in Brussels, Belgium ahead of the highly anticipated COP26 summit.
Demand will rise from 250 additional Jaguar Land Rovers for high-level conference attendees next Sunday.
A COP26 spokesman admitted that generators might be needed – but insisted that they would run on hydrogenated vegetable oil derived from waste products such as chip fat, rather than dirtier fuels such as diesel.
The Government said the Jaguars being used, including I-Pace SUVs, ‘have all been sourced from existing fleets in the UK, helping ensure the carbon footprint remains low’.
Jaguar Land Rover said the cars, which each cost more than £62,000, could travel 292 miles on a single charge – enough to travel from Glasgow to John O’Groats.
Bonnie the Seal is back as Glasgow’s mascot during the 2018 European Championships.
The COP26 will be held at Scotland’s Event Campus. There will be around 25,000 people attending and 120 heads of states.
Operation Urram is a massive security operation that will see 10,000 officers and 200 police officers deployed daily, as well as officers on secondment from England.
Specialist ‘protest removal’ squads will be ready to crack down on any illegal disruptions, with the Armed Forces and coastguard on alert for serious threats.
Glasgow faces additional disruption due to increased visitors. This is compounded by RMT union railroad strikes and key road closings.
COP26 has been described as the ‘last best hope for the world to get its act together’ on climate change – but China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not attend, delivering a blow to hopes of substantial progress.
It is hoped that the Queen will attend a banquet to honor delegates.
Bonnie, a born-again…
Down-to-earth facts behind the scenes at COP26…
- Bonnie the bug-eyed seal is the mascot – fittingly recycled from the 2018 European Sports Championship held in Glasgow.
- The Scottish Government has created a special tartan using recycled wool from Tuscany.
- Police sniffer dogs have been scouring Glasgow’s hotels – for bed bugs.
- Private landlords are asking up to £36,000 to rent a flat for the fortnight.
- Two cruise ships that can accommodate almost 6,000 people are also available on the Clyde.
UK leads with its phase-out of fossil fuels
Britain can be proud of its past decade of reducing fossil fuel dependence as COP26 host.
A snapshot of the country’s energy mix shows no coal was used to produce electricity on Friday.
Ten years ago, coal provided nearly 40% of our supply. Last October, it provided 1.5 percent.
China, whose president is ignoring the COP26, saw 56.8% its energy generation come from coal last year.
The UK’s net zero carbon emissions drive is racing ahead, too, as renewable energy – from the sun, wind and water – made up 36.1 per cent of our power supply on Friday. That’s more than triple their 11.3 per cent contribution in 2011.
Britain’s 11,000 wind turbines now generate around a quarter of our electricity needs and solar power has shot up from zero generated in 2011 to around ten per cent now.
But Britons are baffled by their “carbon footprint”
More than two-fifths of Britons do not understand the term ‘carbon footprint’, a poll has found.
Researchers found that 42 percent of people don’t understand the meaning of the phrase “climate change” despite widespread media coverage. In Leicester, it is 53% and Newcastle, it is 46%.
The survey asked 14 percent of those questioned to define recycling waste. Another 14% believed it meant the opposite.
14 per cent thought it was ‘something to do with the weather’.
And five per cent admitted they had ‘no idea’ at all what it meant.
The 13 cities surveyed by Upfield were the ones with the most knowledge of the term. They included Glasgow, which will host the COP26 summit, as well as London, where 36% did not understand it.
It was 39% in both Cambridge and Liverpool.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘carbon footprint’ means the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organisation, or community.