COP26: Flash mob dance by Extinction Rebellion on The Moor in Sheffield to highlight climate crisis

Masked dancers will perform a waltz in the middle of the busy shopping parade in Sheffield city centre on Saturday, October 30, at midday.

The performance – entitled Dancing While The Planet Burns – is aimed to raise awareness of the urgent need for international action as global leaders gather for the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

What is happening at COP26 and what do the initials stand for?

The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, to give the summit its full title, will take place from October 31 to November 12, with the target of speeding up steps to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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The central aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2C, and ideally below 1.5C, above pre-industrial levels, by reducing carbon emissions.

The conference has been described by America’s climate envoy John Kerry as ‘the last best hope for the world to get its act together’ to avoid the worst consequences of global heating.

It comes just weeks after the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, described by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as a ‘code red for humanity’.

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The Extinction Rebellion dancers will appear outside the old Debenhams store at the top of The Moor, dancing on a ‘ballroom’ demarcated by flame coloured banners which warn of the catastrophic consequences of ignoring the climate emergency.

They will represent financiers, oil executives, media moguls and other powerful figures too fixated on their mobile phones to pay heed to the warning sirens blaring ever louder around them.Viewers will be able to watch as they continue with their frenzied dance until the final ‘thunderclap’, when they freeze before melting anonymously into the crowd.

Geoff Cox, Extinction Rebellion Sheffield member, said: “Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic, fiddling while Rome burns, cutting new fossil fuel deals with a code red warning for humanity.… Is there a pattern here? Wake up governments of the world – we need urgent action now!”