Question

To ask the President of COP26, what steps he has taken to help prevent a recurrence of the accessibility challenges encountered by Israel’s energy minister when attempting to access the Scottish Event Campus on 1 November 2021.

Inclusivity and accessibility were key priorities for COP26 and the venue was designed to facilitate that. When officials were made aware of the issue in question, which was a genuine mistake, they worked urgently with the Israeli delegation to resolve this and the UK Government apologised to Minister Elharrar. The permanent structures were fully wheelchair accessible and the venue holds gold level accessibility status. For the temporary structures a complete accessibility audit was completed and they were fully compliant. There were blue badge spaces for the conference, along with two fully accessible shuttle routes.

An accessibility support desk was on hand to help with any requests for assistance, and there were hearing loops available in conference and plenary rooms. During the second week, BSL was provided at the COP26 Presidency and UK Prime Minister press conferences, and key presidency events including the closing plenaries. Officials regularly met with the UNFCCC Disability lead to address any accessibility concerns.