What is the COP?

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the central decision-making meeting responsible for making sure countries stick to their climate promises under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This concise overview summarises how the global system for fighting climate change works, focusing on five key areas: cutting pollution (mitigation), preparing for changes (adaptation), funding, technology, and building capacity.

Read it to understand:

• what the COP is and its role as the annual world leaders' meeting on climate change, involving 198 countries
• the historical importance of the Kyoto Protocol (1997), covering its targets for cutting pollution and tools like the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
• the structure and three main goals of the major Paris Agreement (2015), including the aim to limit warming to and the requirement for every country to submit its own climate action plan (Nationally Determined Contributions -NDCs)
• the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in providing the science that all these agreements are based on.

Follow the link below to deepen your knowledge of the global climate change framework!

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