Environment

Cop26: Protests in Glasgow over fossil fuels and inaction on climate change

Several groups demonstrating about environmental issues as UN summit held in city

As delegates at COP26 in Glasgow heard promises of new private-sector funding for climate change, protesters outside marched though the city against “greenwashing”, where companies claim to be protecting the environment while continuing to harm it.

Wed Nov 3 2021 - 17:29

Hundreds of climate activists are marching through Glasgow as part of an Extinction Rebellion demonstration around the Cop26 summit.

It is one of several protests to take place in the city on Wednesday as delegates at the UN conference discuss how to fund the actions needed to limit global warming.

Traffic was stopped in several streets as demonstrators made their way through. Several activists staged a sit-down protest outside the offices of energy firm SSE on Waterloo Street in the city. The march moved on past as campaigners, surrounded by police officers, refused to move from the entrance.

Activists campaigning against extraction from the Cambo oil field in the North Sea staged a mock ceremony at which someone dressed as Queen Elizabeth II turned off the taps to a symbolic oil pipeline.

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The demonstration comes on the anniversary of the queen inaugurating the flow of North Sea oil in 1975.

Friends of the Earth Scotland, along with the campaign groups Platform and Stop Cambo, staged the event.

A climate activist known as Stumpy during a Extinction Rebellion protest on St Vincent Street in Glasgow during the Cop26 summit. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

High time

Caroline Rance, of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said it was “high time we turned it off and stopped the continual flow of oil and gas”.

“If we want a liveable climate, scientists are telling us there can be no fossil fuel developments — oil and gas, as well as coal — from now on,” she said.

“Boris Johnson, as host of these climate talks, must demonstrate what real climate action looks like.”

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said an environmental review of the Cambo field in the North Sea should be carried out before extraction begins.

Scottish secretary Alister Jack has backed the new oil field, saying Cambo is “priced in” to the UK government’s plans to reduce emissions.

Rosemary Harris, of Platform, said there should be no new investment in oil and gas.

She told the PA news agency: “Any new oil and gas production is continuing to support a declining industry. There’s a lot of talk about it being important for jobs, but they should be creating pathways for workers outside oil and gas.” - PA

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