Welcome everyone out there who's joining us for this Green Alliance webinar.

My name is Libby Peek and I'm Head of Resource Policy at Green Alliance,

a charity and think tank that focuses on achieving ambitious leadership for the environment.

This is the first in a series of webinars that we're planning on running, reflecting on the implications of COVID-19 for action on climate change.

This particular webinar is part of our work for the Cutting Carbon Now project, which is generously funded by the Network for Social Change.

And so we'd like to give them a big thank you at the start.

This webinar is also a follow-on from an event we held in early February,

and that was a completely different sort of affair.

That was a full-day conference held in a packed London venue,

and it was book-ended on either side,

with both Michael Gove and Nicholas Sturgeon,

assuring us that their respective governments were committed to making a success out of COP26.

That earlier event was called Countdown to Carp because, at the time, the clock was ticking rather rapidly down towards that UN climate summit which was due to be held in Glasgow in November.

But that was, of course, before the clock was spun so dramatically backwards,

and we don't know now how much time we actually have to prepare

for that vital meeting of climate diplomats and world leaders.

What we can say for sure, though, is that the time the world has to

effectively tackle climate change is proceeding in the traditional linear fashion.

And so while we'd say it's right that global governments have the health and safety of their

populations as the number one priority at the moment, we do also need to figure out how to ensure

the long-term health and safety of the planet that we live upon.

So there's obviously a lot at stake and a lot to get stuck into,

...