The __2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference__, also known as __COP26__, is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. It is scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland from 1 to 12 November 2021 under the presidency of the Government of the United Kingdom.
- https://ukcop26.org/
The conference is set to incorporate the 26th Conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 16th meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (__CMP16__), and the third meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement (__CMA3__) - wikipedia 
This conference is the first time that Parties are expected to commit to enhanced ambition since COP21. Parties are required to do every five years, as outlined in the Paris Agreement, a process colloquially known as the 'ratchet mechanism'. Sponsors for the UN's COP26 climate talks in Glasgow will also need to have strong climate credentials. The venue is the SEC Centre in Central Glasgow.
Originally due to be held in November 2020 at the same venue, the event was postponed for twelve months in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
# Postponement
In light of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the Conference of Parties was postponed until 1–12 November, 2021.
The rearranged date was announced in May 2020. Earlier in 2021, the UK and Italy are due to host summits of the Group of Seven and List of G20 summits respectively.
Host nations Italy and the United Kingdom were heavily affected by the pandemic, and the venue of the conference, the SEC Centre in Glasgow, was converted in May 2020 into a NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital for COVID-19 patients - wikipedia
Independent observers noted that though not directly related, the postponement gave the international community time to respond to the outcome of the 2020 United States presidential election, held in November 2020.
President Donald Trump United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement from the Paris Agreement, although this could not take effect until 4 November 2020; while his Democratic Party (United States) challengers pledged to immediately rejoin the Paris Agreement and increase ambition to reduce emissions.
# Presidency
Former UK Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, Claire Perry O'Neill, was originally appointed President of COP26, but the UK government abruptly removed her on 31 January 2020, stating that the post would become "a ministerial role". Former Prime Minister David Cameron and former Foreign Secretary William Hague were unwilling to accept the position. On 13 February, Conservative Party (UK) minister Alok Sharma was appointed to the role. Nigel Topping was appointed as the UK government's High Level Climate Action Champion for COP26; he is the former CEO of We Mean Business, a climate change action organisation. Also appointed by the Prime Minister and taking a finance advisory position is Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England - wikipedia
Italy will partner with the UK in leading COP26. For the most part, their role will be in preparatory work such as the hosting of a pre-COP session and an event for young people called Youth4Climate 2020: Driving Ambition. These events were scheduled to take place between 28 September and 2 October 2020 in Milan.
# Ratchet mechanism
Under the Paris Agreement, countries submitted Intended nationally determined contributions, to reduce Greenhouse gas compared to a "business as usual" scenario. Under the framework of the Paris Agreement, each country was expected to submit enhanced nationally determined contributions every five years, to ratchet up ambition to mitigate climate change. Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, the conference of 2020 was set to be the first iteration of the ratchet mechanism. Future iterations will also take into account the "global stocktake", the first of which is in 2023 - wikipedia
# See also - COP26