COP stands for 'Conference of the Parties'.

The COP26 UN Climate Change Conference is where world leaders come together to talk about climate change and how to tackle it.

This year marks the 26th COP summit and is taking place between 31 October-12 November 2021 in the UK (delayed by one year because of the Coronavirus Pandemic).

The spotlight is now on the UK to provide global leadership that raises ambition and turns promises into action to tackle the inseparable nature and climate crises.

You will have seen a variety of ways in which we can all play a small part in making a better planet – Sainsbury's, for example, and who are the Principal Supermarket Partner of this year's COP26 Climate Change Conference, are encouraging everyone to:

• cut food waste
• recycle more flexible plastics (those are the plastics that might surround cucumbers, potatoes or bananas). Sainsbury's operates a Flexible Plastics Recycling scheme – simply collect up those flexible plastics and drop them in at the recycling deposit points which can be found in store
• support sustainable choices – visit the Sainsbury's Global Farm website which showcases the work of farmers and suppliers in helping us all eat more sustainably

One of our partners, The Cheshire Wildlife Trust, is listing entire ways in which you can get involved and is promoting small actions at home by:

• reducing energy use in the home (turn lights off, invest in low energy light bulbs, turn appliances off at the mains, wash clothes at lower temperatures)
• recycle, upcycle and make do and mend
• change how we travel or the number of journeys we make to reduce emissions
• change what we eat by buying local, eating more plant-based foods and reducing our environmental footprint
• support peat free compost strategies – regrettably, digging peat releases carbon into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change.
• think about climate friendly gardening

Get involved.