Hon. Kandeh Yumkella, Member of Parliament representing Samu Chiefdom in Kambia District, Sierra Leone, has arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, (COP26).

The High-Level event hosted by the United Kingdom in partnership with Italy brings together governments, international organizations, civil society, private sector among others to unite the global community in tackling climate change.

COP26, the biggest climate related conference on earth is the product of negotiations held in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where nations agreed to “stabilize green house gas concentrations in the atmosphere” to prevent dangerous human activities on our climate. Today, the treaty has garnered over 190 signatories.

Aside from bilateral meetings with his numerous partners, Hon. Yumkella has a packed schedule. He is slated to keynote a series of events during his stay and moderate a few sessions where he is expected to set the tone on issues of energy access, clean cooking, gender and women’s empowerment, climate and the role of governments to inspire action.

As co-chair of the Africa – Europe Foundation Strategy Group on Energy, Hon. Yumkella will lead discussions on reinforcing the Africa-Europe Energy Partnership and Reinforcing the Africa Europe Climate Alliance: Looking ahead from COP26 to COP27.

Moreover, at the University of Loughborough (MECS) event, he will help shape discussions on the “Opportunities to shift towards Low-Carbon Cooking” as well as at the Clean Cooking Alliance’s event on “Empowering Governments to lead Clean Cooking Transitions”.

In addition, Yumkella will also moderate the African Union (AU) event on “Opportunities and Challenges for the African Energy Transition: What will it take Africa to reach net-zero emissions” and the EU -African Business Roundtable, where he will speak about “Scaling Up International Partnerships for Africa’s transition on the Clean Development Drive”.

Continuing his engagements, he will also speak at the Launch of the Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment and Resilience at Strathclyde University and at the ENERGIA/UNIDO event on Enhancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment to accelerate a just, inclusive and climate resilient energy transition including events organized by the Rocky Mountain Institute where he is a board member.

From Scotland, Hon. Yumkella will proceed to London where he will meet and greet members of the National Grand Coalition from the United Kingdom and Ireland Chapter and interested Sierra Leoneans at a Town Hall forum. He will then travel to Paris on the invitation of the Nigerian International Partnership Summit where he is the lead speaker on “Africa’s Economic Outlook: Moving Africa from the Margins to the Mainstream of the Global economy – Nigeria’s Pivotal Role”, before returning home.