The G7 summit was mere spectacle – for the sake of the planet, Cop26 needs to be different

We need to learn the lessons of the G7 and ensure the issue of climate at Cop26 has definitive measurable objectives, writes Salma Shah

Boris Johnson and Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Cornwall last week (PA)

For months, preparations have been underway for the first significant post-lockdown gathering of leaders of the democratic world. The G7 in Carbis Bay. The fine details of where they would stay, what they would eat and what they would talk about would have been considered in minute detail. So important are these events that even the inclement British weather put its best foot forward, bathing the Cornish coast in golden sunlight.

There’s nothing quite like a good junket to entertain and delight. We judged the wives’ outfits and relished the details of the bitchy asides shared oh so helpfully with the waiting press packs. Her Majesty the Queen even saw fit to brandish a sword, merely to cut a cake, proving beyond doubt her eye for the theatre required to keep the punters happy.

Despite the photocalls and the global attention, however, a niggle remains: do such gatherings still serve a useful purpose? Or is the G7 and other summits like it more spectacle than special? It’s a thought Adrian Chiles posed to me on his BBC Radio 5 Live show last Friday and my instant reaction was resounding support for these summits… Except when you drill into it, the process does feel staid.