Moving forward from COP26: Further enhancing multilevel and collaborative action for sustainable local development

After being both postponed, a year of increasingly frequent and extreme weather events, and COVID-19 related uncertainties, expectations around both COP26 – i.e. annual UN conference on climate change (the 26th edition concluded in Glasgow on 13th Nov) and COP15 – i.e. the biennial UN biodiversity conference (the 15th edition to be concluded in Kunming, China in May 2022) have been rising. Furthermore, with key nations still waiting to disclose their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) on cutting emissions and the absence of crucial leaders, concerns and perplexity about the impact that both COPs can actually have is also becoming a prominent topic. It is imperative that real commitments are set and that climate change needs are seen as a priority.