Editor\u27s Note

Stephanie Heckman is a visual artist who attended the Glasgow conference. “I attended COP26 as a visual storyteller,’ she says. “Visual storytelling (known also as graphic recording) involves the use of graphics, drawings and hand lettering to capture the essence of collective conversation. It is a tool for live notetaking and sense-making; it stimulates participants to engage with each other and complex subject matter, and makes the outcomes more memorable, engaging and accessible to others not present at these conversations.” Stephanie was an accredited observer delegate at COP26 and a “civic participant” in the many events happening around Glasgow at the time. “I captured my impressions in daily watercolour visual summaries,’ she says, “as well as a number of graphic recordings commissioned by official and unofficial side events. All of these I compiled in a ‘COP26 Visual Report’, to share what it was like to be present, on the ground at COP26 in Glasgow.” This visual report is the subject matter of this special issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy. At Sharm El Sheikh, Stephanie will again be an accredited delegate but working inside the negotiating tent alongside the UN Climate Secretariat itself to help bring clarity through imagery that crosses language and cultural barriers to its proceedings as they are happening. We look forward to bringing you that visual report in a forthcoming issue of the journal