UCC delegation attends COP26 conference

12 Nov 2021

This November, 196 countries of the world met in Glasgow at COP26 to negotiate the next stage of an agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. UCC is privileged to be the only university in Ireland to hold “observer status” to COP, as secured by its flagship Environmental Research Institute in 2015.  This has allowed UCC to send delegates to COP meetings over the past six years. 

This year, UCC sent eight researchers and students to the summit. Professor of Energy Engineering at UCC & Director of MaREI, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine at UCC, Brian O Gallachoir led the delegation, which also included: Ms Alicia O’Sullivan; Dr Kian Mintz-Woo; Ms Clara Felberbauer; Ms Vera O'Riordan; Dr Rhoda Jennings; Mr Jason McGuire; and Dr Eoin Lettice. Dr Marguerite Nyhan, lecturer in Environmental Engineering & Future Sustainability, was also invited to partake as a member of Ireland’s national delegation. UCC’s delegation travelled sustainably, via boat and train.

UCC and our associated higher education and research communities acknowledge our significant role and responsibility, and stand ready to contribute to the knowledge and solutions required to address climate change, and limit global temperature rise to 1.5⁰C.  UCC is acknowledged as a globally leading university in this regard, being the first university in the world to be awarded the Green Flag for its campus, ranked 8th in the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking and a signatory to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment.           

On Thursday 11 November, as COP26 drew to a close in Glasgow, we were particularly delighted to welcome the British Ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Mr Paul Johnston, to our historical campus where he met with members of the UCC delegation who had just returned from the conference. The visit saw President O’Halloran welcoming Ambassador Johnston and accompanying him to UCC's new COP26 inspired sustainability mural. The group then continued on to the President's Office, when Mr Johnston signed the Visitors' Book and was presented with gifts of a jar of UCC Alma Nectar Honey, which is made by the UCC bees at the North Mall Campus, and a copy of the newly published The Coastal Atlas of Ireland, winner of the "Best Irish Published Book" in this year's An Post book awards. President O’Halloran then presented Ambassador Johnston with a copy of UCC’s COP26 Declaration.