COP26, also known as the United Nations Climate Change Conference UK 2021, kicks off Sunday October 31, and officially runs until Friday, November 12. It’s being held in Glasgow at the Scottish Event Campus (pictured). Here are five things everyone needs to know about this crucial summit.
What’s a COP?
COP is pronounced “cop,” not C-O-P. The summits have taken place since 1995 – COP1 was held in Berlin. This year’s summit is No. 26, and the global gatherings have grown in size over the years.
In COP26’s own words:
For nearly three decades the UN has been bringing together almost every country on earth for global climate summits – called COPs – which stands for “Conference of the Parties.” In that time climate change has gone from being a fringe issue to a global priority.
World leaders will arrive in Scotland, alongside tens of thousands of negotiators, government representatives, businesses, and citizens for 12 days of talks.
Why is COP26 so important?
Nearly 200 countries must work together to fulfill the Paris Agreement promises made at COP21 in 2015, where nations agreed to limit global warming to well below 2C – ideally, 1.5C – compared to pre-industrial levels.
COP26 is the first official deadline since the Paris Agreement.
In order to reach a climate-neutral world by 2050, “net zero” – the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere – must be achieved.
Actions to limit global warming need to be implemented immediately, so that makes COP26 the most important climate summit ever.
What’s the goal of COP26?
Countries must agree legally binding emissions reduction actions, and emerge from the summit with documents that outline concrete actions. Countries need to set new climate commitments ahead of this year’s summit, and well and truly act on those pledges.
Even Queen Elizabeth II of Britain is annoyed by the lack of real action: She was caught on a hot mic in mid-October saying, “It’s really irritating when they talk, but they don’t do.”
How do countries reach that goal?
In a phrase, further emissions reductions.
Countries who signed the Paris accord agreed to update and strengthen their targets every five years. Targets are known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
But current targets aren’t anywhere near where they should be, and in fact, many countries are going in entirely the wrong direction. The world is currently on track for nearly 3C of global warming by 2100, which would have catastrophic environmental, social, and health consequences – and “catastrophic” is not an exaggeration.
November 4 is Energy Day, so keep an eye out for new signatories to the UN’s No New Coal pact.
November 10 is Transport Day, so look for gas and diesel car ban pledges.
What’s the most effective way to reduce emissions?
UK prime minister Boris Johnson pithily outlined his four aims for COP26 as “cash, cars, coal, and forest.” That means wealthy nations handing over money they already promised years ago to developing nations, ditching gas and diesel cars, stop burning fossil fuels, and planting trees and protecting biodiversity.
China, the world’s biggest emitter, recently agreed to stop funding coal plants in other countries, but it still burns coal domestically.
Countries’ targets must be backed up by actionable policies, or it’s just going to be a lot of hot air. Literally.
UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.
Irish band Kneecap have had a meteoric rise in the music industry, with tens of millions of streams on Spotify alone and widespread critical acclaim.
The trio’s genre-bending rap/hip hop tracks, performed in a mixture of English and Irish-language, have clearly resonated with a mainstream audience, but their many controversial moments – some of them seemingly intentional – have helped them hit such heights.
Here’s what you need to know about the band and their most notorious moments.
Who’s in the band?
The group is made up of three friends from Belfast: Mo Chara (Liam Og O Hannaidh), Moglai Bap (Naoise O Caireallain) and DJ Provai (JJ O Dochartaigh).
The latter is a former teacher who still wears a balaclava, initially to disguise himself from his students when the band started out in 2017.
Image: Kneecap performing in Belfast last year. Pic: PA
They were controversial from the get-go – and seemingly by design.
More from Ents & Arts
Their debut track – CEARTA – is based on how band member Bap was stopped by police for spray-painting cearta, the Irish word for rights, on a bus stop.
Before fame, Bap and Chara, who have known each other for around 15 years, transformed a former youth club into party hub, where they would play their favourite tracks.
And it was through this venture into the club space that they later met DJ Provai.
The group called themselves Kneecap in reference to kneecapping, a common form of paramilitary punishment in Northern Ireland during The Troubles which sees someone shot or hit repeatedly on both knees.
From cult heroes to mainstream success
Kneecap released their first mixtape, 3cag, in 2018 to critical acclaim, and their 2019 single HOOD is their most streamed single to date.
Image: Kneecap played a headline-worthy set at Glastonbury
The band then ventured into the film industry with a self-titled biopic about their rise to prominence, set in post-Troubles Belfast, starring themselves alongside Irish actor Michael Fassbender.
Before its full release last summer, it had been the talk of various film festivals, including Tribeca in New York.
Speaking to Sky News at Glastonbury last year, the band said the reaction had been “crazy”.
Since then it’s got crazier, with the film getting six BAFTA nominations and earning its writer and director Rich Peppiatt a win for Outstanding Debut.
Image: Kneecap on the BAFTA Film Awards 2025 red carpet with film director Rich Peppiatt. Pic: PA
The band cracked the UK and are now following suit in the US, having sold out several shows there.
Court battle with the UK government
It would take a long time to cover all of Kneecap’s controversial moments; much of it is a part of their music itself.
They have been banned from Irish public service broadcaster RTE for their references to drug-taking.
But there have been some particularly high-profile incidents since 2024.
Image: Kneecap fans during the Electric Picnic Festival in 2022. File pic: PA
The first was their legal battle with the then-Conservative UK government, who blocked a grant for the band which was initially approved by the British Phonographic Industry.
The group’s application to the Music Export Growth Scheme, which supports UK-registered artists in global markets, was for £14,250, but Kemi Badenoch, then business secretary, stopped it.
At the time, a government spokesperson said it fully supported freedom of speech, but that it was “hardly surprising” it did not want to hand out UK taxpayers’ money to those opposed to the United Kingdom.
One of their most famous tracks had been 2019’s Get Your Brits Out, which had been criticised for being anti-British.
The trio have always denied this being the case.
Chara told Sky News after their Glastonbury set: “This is a thing that people love to spin, like we’re some anti-British band.
“We have English family. We have loads of good friends who call themselves British. It’s the British government we don’t like.”
Image: Left to right: Band members Mo Chara, DJ Provai and Moglai Bap. Pic: PA
DJ Provai said the band’s motivation was “equality”.
“For us, this action was never about £14,250; it could have been 50p,” he said, after the band said it would donate the funds to two Belfast charities.
“This was an attack on artistic culture, an attack on the Good Friday Agreement itself and an attack on Kneecap and our way of expressing ourselves.”
The member is alleged to have said: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
Two British MPs have been murdered in the past 10 years – Labour’s Jo Cox in 2016 and Conservative Sir David Amess in 2021.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
6:31
MPs daughter calls for Kneecap apology on The Sarah-Jane Mee Show
In a statement, Kneecap said they rejected “any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever.”
They added: “An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.
“To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt.”
Pro-Palestinian messages at gigs
The investigation into the MP comments was announced several days after the Met said it had referred a different video from a Kneecap gig to be reviewed by counter-terror police.
Footage from that gig, at London’s Kentish Town Forum last November, appeared to show one member of the group shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.
Hamas and Hezbollah are both proscribed as terrorist groups in the UK. Under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, it is an offence to express “an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation”.
The police say they are “assessing” both clips to “determine whether further police investigation is required”.
Kneecap have said they are facing a “co-ordinated smear campaign” after speaking out about “the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people”.
Image: Kneecap fans at one of their concerts in 2022. File pic: PA
In their statement, they said: “Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation’s history.
“Kneecap’s message has always been – and remains – one of love, inclusion, and hope. This is why our music resonates across generations, countries, classes and cultures and has brought hundreds of thousands of people to our gigs.”
Investigation comes after Coachella fallout
Just days before the police investigations were announced, TV personality Sharon Osbourne called for Kneecap’s US work visas to be revoked after accusing them of making “aggressive political statements” including “projections of anti-Israel messages and hate speech” at Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
As the band performed on the second night, they displayed words on the big screen reading: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
“It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F*** Israel. Free Palestine”.
Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, which came after Hamas gunmen launched an attack killing 1,200 people in Israel on 7 October 2023, has seen at least 52,000 people killed, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Speaking to Rolling Stone after Osbourne’s comments, Kneecap member Mo Chara said: “Her rant has so many holes in it that it hardly warrants a reply, but she should listen to War Pigs that was written by Black Sabbath [led by Ozzy Osbourne, her husband].”
He also told the outlet: “We believe we have an obligation to use our platform when we can to raise the issue of Palestine, and it was important for us to speak out at Coachella as the USA is the main funder and supplier of weapons to Israel as they commit genocide in Gaza.”
Kneecap has been continually outspoken in favour of Palestinians at gigs.
In November, DJ Provai arrived for the court verdict against the UK government in a vehicle bearing the Irish and Palestinian flags and blaring loud music.
A performance by Belfast rap trio Kneecap at the Eden Project has been cancelled.
It comes after a row in which one of the group appeared to call for Tory MPs to be killed and another appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” in historical footage of a gig.
A spokesperson for Eden Sessions, which organises the gigs at the Cornwall venue, said: “Eden Sessions Limited announced today that the Kneecap show at Eden Project scheduled for July 4, 2025 has been cancelled.
“Ticket purchasers will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded.
“The refund process will commence from Wednesday, April 30 2025. Refunds will be processed against the original payment cards used. Purchasers should allow six working days for funds to be received into their accounts.”
On Monday, the band apologised to the families of murdered MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox after footage emerged of one of its members appearing to say “kill your local MP”.
But Katie Amess, daughter of Sir David, dismissed their apology, accusing them of “deflection and excuses and gaslighting”.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the group, comprising Liam Og O Hannaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, said they “reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual.
“Kneecap’s message has always been – and remains – one of love, inclusion, and hope. This is why our music resonates across generations, countries, classes and cultures and has brought hundreds of thousands of people to our gigs. No smear campaign will change that,” they added.
The footage had been “exploited and weaponised,” they said.
Their statement didn’t impress Ms Amess, however, who on Tuesday accused them of “gaslighting”, saying their comments were “absurd” and “not an apology”.
“They don’t understand what they’re talking about, they obviously aren’t educated enough in what they’re speaking about to think that they can use those excuses and everybody will be like, ‘oh, never mind, let’s move on to something else’. They haven’t taken any accountability.
“These words that they are using are extremely dangerous and they have not acknowledged that.
He said Downing Street “completely reject in the strongest possible terms the comments that they’ve made, particularly in relation to MPs and intimidation as well as obviously the situation in the Middle East.
Image: Sir David Amess. File pic: PA
Image: Jo Cox was murdered in 2016. Pic: PA
“It’s right that the police are looking into these videos.”
Mrs Badenoch said she thought they were apologising “because they realise that people don’t like the kind of things that they’ve been saying” and are “worried they’re going to lose their slot at Glastonbury“.
The Metropolitan Police are assessing footage from a November 2023 gig appearing to show one member of the group saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”, along with a video clip from a different concert in November 2024 in which a member of the band appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” – groups which are banned as terrorist organisations in the UK.
In Monday’s statement, Kneecap insisted they have “never supported” Hamas or Hezbollah.
Ministers also put pressure on the organisers of the Glastonbury Festival over the band’s inclusion in this year’s line-up.
In the Commons, security minister Dan Jarvis said ministers “would urge organisers of the Glastonbury Festival to think very carefully about who is invited to perform there later this year”.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
“Powerful individuals” at the BBC are making the lives of their colleagues “unbearable”, the corporation’s chairman has said, after a review into its workplace culture.
The independent report, sparked by the Huw Edwards scandal, was carried out by Change Associates, the same management consultancy that led a similar review in 2013, following the Jimmy Savile scandal.
BBC chairman Samir Shah told staff ahead of the report’s release on Monday morning: “There is a minority of people whose behaviour is simply not acceptable. And there are still places where powerful individuals – on and off screen – can abuse that power to make life for their colleagues unbearable.”
He said the report made recommendations to “prioritise action over procedural change”, as well as addressing “deep-seated issues” including staff not feeling confident enough to speak up.
Mr Shah added: “In the end, it’s quite simple: if you are a person who is prepared to abuse power or punch down or behave badly, there is no place for you at the BBC.”
While the review, which heard from around 2,500 employees and freelancers from 19 different countries, found no evidence of a toxic culture within the corporation, some staff said there was “a minority of people at the BBC – both on and off-air – who were able to behave unacceptably without it being addressed”.
The report said: “Even though they are small in number, their behaviour creates large ripples which negatively impact the BBC’s culture and external reputation.”
More on Bbc
Related Topics:
It said these people were “dotted across the organisation in different functions and departments”, and were “often in positions where power could be abused”.
While no specific names were mentioned in the report, it did note “some names were mentioned several times”.
Image: Huw Edwards was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence in September. Pic: PA
Some considered ‘indispensable’
One example of poor behaviour given included an “untouchable” presenter being “called out for exceptionally inappropriate language”. It said that while “a report was made” and sanctions promised, a senior manager who was in the room at the time of the incident was “perceived as deferring so as not to rock the boat”.
It said a blind eye could be turned to poor behaviours “when productions were award winning or attracting large audiences”.
The report went on to warn that, “at its worst”, the corporation “rewards” such individuals “by providing little or no consequence to their actions”.
It recognised that some of those displaying “unacceptable behaviour” were perceived as “indispensable” to the corporation, and that by moving “potentially vexatious issues” to formal grievance without appropriate due diligence, the BBC was “tolerating” the problem.
It also said that by keeping those who formally raised an issue “in the dark about progress and outcomes,” it was unfairly punishing them.
The BBC board has fully accepted the report and its findings, as has BBC management.
Image: BBC chairman Samir Shah. Pic: PA
BBC director-general Tim Davie called the report “an important moment for the BBC and the wider industry”.
He said the corporation would implement the recommendations “at pace”, making sure that BBC values are “lived and championed by the whole organisation each and every day.”
Actions being taken include:
• A strengthened code of conduct, with specific guidance for on-air presenters • A more robust disciplinary policy, with updated examples of misconduct and clear consequences • All TV production partners must meet Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) industry standards • A new “Call It Out” campaign to promote positive behaviour, empower informal resolution and challenge poor conduct • Clear pledges for anyone raising concerns, setting out what they can expect from the BBC
Further actions include succession planning for the most senior on-air roles, a new “resolving concerns helpline”, more training for managers and clearer behaviour expectations for freelancers.
A difficult year for the BBC
The BBC has been under pressure to act after a string of complaints against some of its top talent over the last 12 months.
Brand, who worked for BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music between 2006 and 2008, denies all allegations against him and says all his sexual encounters were consensual.
The BBC also apologised in January after a review found it “did not take adequate action” upon learning about concerns over former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood following claims of “bullying and misogynistic behaviour”.
And late last year, Greg Wallace stepped down from his presenting role on MasterChef after multiple historical allegations of misconduct.
Wallace’s lawyers have said it is “entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”. Wallace has since said he is seeking “space to heal”.
