Following on from postponement in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 26th annual United Nations Climate Change conference (COP26) takes place in Glasgow from 1st to 12th November 2021.
We know that global climate change is the most pressing challenge facing society, that’s why our Future of Gas project aims to work towards a sustainable future in energy production. This challenge is predominantly an energy challenge and to complete it, all societies must have access to world leading, innovative and cost-effective energy networks.
 

What is COP26 Glasgow?

The UN Climate Change conference is an opportunity for world leaders to get together and discuss the climate change emergency and what action each country plans to take to tackle it. It will be attended by countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is a treaty agreed in 1994.

What does COP26 mean?

The COP26 conference is also known as Conference of the Parties, with this being the 26th edition. The 2021 summit is being hosted by the United Kingdom and takes place in Glasgow, Scotland. This is alongside the UK’s plans to become Net Zero for carbon emissions by 2050.

COP26 dates and venue

The 2021 COP26 conference will be held between Monday 1st November and Friday 12th November 2021 and takes place at the Scottish Events Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, Scotland.
 

How are we supporting COP26 and taking climate change action?

We are playing a leading role in helping the UK reach our Net Zero target, by connecting greater levels of renewable gas and leading on new technologies and infrastructure to cut our carbon emissions across heat and transport.

The next decade is non-negotiable in the progress to achieving NetZero. The CCC recently noted that emissions reductions from sectors other than energy generation are far short of where we need to be. If we are to have any chance of meeting our ambitions, then energy networks like us will need to play a critical role.

The UK gas network is a strategic national asset that connects 24 million homes across the country. It is vital that this is fully utilised on our path to Net Zero.

Cadent and hydrogen Energy

The pathways tell us that the total projected future hydrogen demand for the combined region is: 22.4TWh and that the combined region will need to ramp up building retrofitting to a rate of 700 per day in the next 5 years, so there is a big challenge ahead of us.

It’s now accepted across the UK and through work such as the Pathways that hydrogen will need to play a role in the UK’s future energy scenario, with projects such as Hydeploy and Hynet working towards making this a reality.

You can find out more about our hydrogen programme here.

David Watson, Head of Energy Transition was a panellist on Hydrogen for heating: a consumer-friendly, low-carbon solution? at COP26

What are we doing?

We’re involved in several hydrogen projects in partnerships with the energy sector.
The three main areas we lead on are blending, industrial power and decarbonising heavy transport.