Protesters prepare to take to the streets around the world in climate rallies

Tens of thousands of protesters are set to take to the streets in Glasgow, London and other cities in the UK and around the world to demand action on climate change.

In Glasgow, where the crucial UN summit is being held, around 50,000 people are expected to march through the city center as part of the Cop26 Alliance’s Global Day of Action for Climate Justice.

Organizers said protesters would also be on the streets of central London, as well as 200 events across the UK and around the world.

The rallies come after thousands of young activists, including Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nackett, marched in Glasgow yesterday to protest investment in fossil fuels and the failure to tackle the climate crisis.

Thunberg called the Cop26 conference, where countries come together to try to raise ambition on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, «the Global Greenwash Festival in the North, a two-week celebration of business as usual and blah blah blah.»

But US Special Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry said there was more urgency and focus in the COP26 talks than ever before – though he said he was «one disappointed» about the pace of climate action and warned that the conference «was not done».

The latest demonstrations come in the middle of the Cop26 summit, which saw about 120 leaders meeting in Glasgow to decide what actions they are taking and commit to reducing deforestation, phasing out coal, ending funding for fossil fuels overseas and reducing methane emissions.

But there is still a huge gap between the measures countries have committed to and what is needed to avoid more than 1.5°C of warming, after which the worst floods, droughts, storms and rising seas will be felt as a result of climate change.

So countries are under pressure to agree to a process to increase ambition in the next decade, as well as provide financing to developing countries to deal with the crisis and finalize the last parts of how the global Paris Agreement on climate change will work.

As protests unfold, negotiations continue at Cop26, while the conference also focuses on the role of nature, land use, and agriculture in tackling climate change today.

One of the protesters participating in today’s demonstrations, Michaela Loach, a young Scottish climate activist who is challenging oil and gas expansion in the UK’s North Sea in court.

She said, “Thousands of us are marching around the world today to demand immediate and serious action.

«We are clear that warm words are not good enough – and that the next week of talks should see a serious intensification of concrete plans.»