Glasgow city council’s leader has said she is “absolutely” focused on ensuring an international climate change summit does not become a covid super-spreader event.
Susan Aitken also said it was right for COP26 to be held in person rather than the huge gathering taking place online.
World leaders including Presidents Biden and Putin are expected to be to Glasgow later this year for the crunch eco-summit.
COP26 is believed by some activists to be the last chance for countries to hammer out an agreement to deal with the climate crisis.
However, concerns have been expressed about delegates and protestors flocking to Glasgow during a pandemic.
In an interview with the BBC, Aitken, the SNP leader of the city council, said COP26 will be one of the biggest events the UK has ever seen:
“It is a generational event. It is the moment at which world leaders will determine the future course of humanity and the planet.”
She said: “It's certainly the view of the UN and the participating countries that it can't be something that happens online, that it needs to be in person, that the importance of these discussions are such that they have to be in person.”
On safety, Aitken said: “All of us are absolutely focused on that, and the public health protocols that will be put in place will be absolutely focused on making sure that the city is protected, but also the delegates are protected and that it isn't precisely some kind of super spreader event.”
Aitken has faced criticism by trade unionists over the state of the city in the run up to the event.
Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB trade union, told the Record recently that Glasgow is “filthy” and backed strike action during the summit.
