GLASGOW City Council should call on the UK and Scottish governments to ensure climate action is prioritised in their upcoming budgets, a Green Party motion demands.

Councillor Jon Molyneux is planning to put forward the motion, which calls for a series of actions on climate change, when the authority meets on Thursday.

If passed, council leader Susan Aitken will write to both governments to request Glasgow "has the funding and powers it needs to implement its climate and ecological emergency action plans".

She would also write to the heads of state of each nation participating in COP26, the climate change conference to be held in Glasgow in November, setting out the city's "clear expectations of the progress which must be made".

The motion calls on the council's chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell to write to the UK Government, in its role as lead organiser for COP26, to ensure that voices of those in the global south "who are currently most affected by climate change and ecological devastation" are prioritised.

READ MORE: Security at Glasgow COP26 climate change event 'could cost several hundred million pounds'

Mr Molyneux says this includes "ensuring adequate visa arrangements for representatives of indigenous and marginalised groups and other experts and activists".

He wants the authority to work with partners to maximise sustainability in the delivery of COP26, such as free public transport, free bike use, restrictions on the use of petrol or diesel vehicles.

Children in Glasgow's schools should be supported to engage with the conference, Mr Molyneux adds.

"The recent catastrophic fires in Australia and floods in Indonesia are yet more evidence of the devastating impacts of climate breakdown," the motion states, asking the council to express its distress at "the loss of human, animal and plant life, which serve as a reminder of the inextricable link between climate change and the destruction of nature" and extend "its solidarity to all those who are suffering as a result".

Mr Molyneux said: "The outcomes of COP26 in Glasgow later this year must ensure that 2020 is the tipping point in the world's response to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services reports, which offer a 10-year window within which a just transition must take place."

A Tory motion, to be put forward by Bailie Kyle Thornton, also asks the council to send "its solidarity to the people of Australia who are currently suffering, including those who have lost their homes and livelihoods, and the firefighters and emergency services who have been putting themselves in harm's way in an attempt to bring the fires under control".

READ MORE: Glasgow schoolkids to take part in COP26 climate summit

It asks the council to endorse the "ambitions of the Scottish and UK Governments to work towards carbon neutrality".

"Council further commends the UK Government for successfully securing Glasgow as the host city for the upcoming COP26 which represents the world's best hope of producing an international response to the climate emergency," Mr Thornton adds. If his motion is passed, the council's chief executive would write to the Australian Prime Minister expressing Glasgow's "sincerest sympathies" and invite him to attend COP26 to "advance our mutual commitment to fighting climate change".