COP Summit In A Nutshell

The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties (Conference of the Parties, COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change, and beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. From 2005 the conferences have also served as the “Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol” (CMP) also parties to the convention that are not parties to the protocol can participate in protocol-related meetings as observers. From 2011 the meetings have also been used to negotiate the Paris Agreement as part of the Durban platform activities until its conclusion in 2015, which created a general path towards climate action.

CMA- Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement.

CMP- Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol

SBI- Subsidiary Body for Implementation.

BSTA- Body for Scientific and Technological Advice.

UNFCC- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

‣ KYOTO PROTOCOL

• Kyoto Protocol operationalizes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by committing industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets.
• In its Annex B, the Kyoto Protocol sets binding emission reduction targets for 37 industrialized countries and economies in transition and the European Union.
• Overall, these targets add up to an average 5 per cent emission reduction compared to 1990 levels over the five year period 2008–2012 (the first commitment period).
• In Doha, Qatar, on 8 December 2012, the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol was adopted for a second commitment period, starting in 2013 and lasting until 2020.
• New commitments for Annex I Parties to the Kyoto Protocol who agreed to take on commitments in a second commitment period from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020
• A revised list of GHG to be reported on by Parties in the second commitment period.
• Amendments to several articles of the Kyoto Protocol which specifically referenced issues pertaining to the first commitment period and which needed to be updated for the second commitment period.

‣ Importance Of KYOTO

• One important element of the Kyoto Protocol was the establishment of flexible market mechanisms, which are based on the trade of emissions permits.
• the Protocol also offers them an additional means to meet their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms:

1. International Emissions Trading
2. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
3. Joint implementation (JI)

• The Kyoto Protocol, like the Convention, is also designed to assist countries in adapting to the adverse effects of climate change.
• In Doha, in 2012, it was decided that for the second commitment period, international emissions trading and joint implementation would also provide the Adaptation Fund with a 2 percent share of proceeds.

Span Of COP

• The first UNFCCC Conference of the Parties took place from 28 March to 7 April 1995 in Berlin, Germany.
• COP 2 took place from 8–19 July 1996 in Geneva, Switzerland.
• COP 3 took place in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan.
• COP 4 took place in November 1998 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• COP 5 took place between 25 October and 5 November 1999, in Bonn, Germany.
• COP 6 took place on 13–25 November 2000, in The Hague, Netherlands. COP 6 negotiations resumed on 17–27 July 2001, in Bonn, Germany, with little progress having been made in resolving the differences that had produced an impasse in The Hague.
• At the COP 7 meeting in Marrakech, Morocco from 29 October to 10 November 2001.
• Taking place from 23 October to 1 November 2002, in New Delhi COP 8 adopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration.
• COP 9 took place on 1–12 December 2003 in Milan, Italy.
• COP 10 took place on 6–17 December 2004.
• COP 12/CMP 2 took place on 6–17 November 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya.
• COP 13/CMP 3 took place on 3–17 December 2007, at Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia.
• COP 14/CMP 4 took place on 1–12 December 2008 in Poznań, Poland.
• COP 15 took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 7–18 December 2009.
• COP 16 was held in Cancún, Mexico, from 28 November to 10 December 2010.
• The 2011 COP 17 was held in Durban, South Africa, from 28 November to 9 December 2011.
• Qatar hosted COP 18 which took place in Doha, Qatar, from 26 November to 7 December 2012.
• COP 19 was the 19th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the conference was held in Warsaw, Poland from 11 to 23 November 2013.
• On 1–12 December 2014, Lima, Peru hosted the 20th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP)
• The COP 21 was held in Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015.
• COP 22 was held in Marrakech, in the North-African country of Morocco, on 7–18 November 2016.
• COP 23 was held on 6–17 November 2017. On Friday, 18 November 2016, the end of COP 22, the Chairperson of COP 23 from Fiji announced that it will be held in Bonn, Germany.
• COP 24 was held on 3–14 December 2018 in Katowice, Poland.
• The 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC was planned to take place from 11 to 22 November 2019 in Brazil. COP 25 was then planned to take place in Parque Bicentenario Cerrillos in Santiago de Chile, but eventually Spain offered, and was appointed, as the new host.
• COP 26 was originally scheduled to take place from 9 to 19 November 2020, in Glasgow, Scotland, but was postponed to 31 October to 12 November 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• COP 27 was originally expected to take place in November 2021, but was moved to 2022 due to the rescheduling of COP 26 from 2020 to 2021. The COP 27 will take place in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh city.

Why Was COP Summit Created?

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) One of the three Rio Conventions, the UNFCCC’s ultimate objective is to achieve the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous inteference with the climate system.

Details On A Few COP Summits:

‣ COP 1

• It voiced concerns about the adequacy of countries’ abilities to meet commitments under the Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (BSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI).
• COP 1 agreed on “Activities Implemented Jointly”, first joint measures in international climate action.

‣ COP 2

• Its ministerial declaration was noted (but not adopted) on 18 July 1996, and reflected a United States position statement presented by Timothy Wirth, former Under Secretary for Global Affairs for the United States Department of State at that meeting which:

1. Accepted the scientific findings on climate change proffered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its second assessment (1995);
2. Rejected uniform “harmonized policies” in favor of flexibility;
3. Called for “legally binding mid-term targets.

‣ COP 8

• COP 8 adopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration that, amongst others, called for efforts by developed countries to transfer technology and minimize the impact of climate change on developing countries.
• It is also approved the New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention.
• The Kyoto Protocol could enter into force once it was ratified by 55 countries, including countries responsible for 55 per cent of the developed world’s 1990 carbon dioxide emissions.

‣ COP 18

• The conference made little progress towards the funding of the Green Climate Fund.
• The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol featuring a second commitment period running from 2012 until 2020 limited in scope to 15% of the global carbon dioxide emissions.

‣ COP 21

• Negotiations resulted in the adoption of the Paris Agreement(or Paris Rulebook) on 12 December, governing climate change reduction measures from 2020.
• The adoption of this agreement ended the work of the Durban platform, established during COP17.
• Came into force on 4 November 2016
• The expected key result was an agreement to set a goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2 °C” compared to pre-industrial levels.
• The agreement calls for zero net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to be reached during the second half of the 21st century.
• Eiffel Tower illuminated in green in response to the One heart, One tree campaign

‣ COP 23

• The Talanoa Dialogue is an inclusive and participatory process designed to allow countries to assess the progress made so far toward achieving the long-term of the Paris Agreement,
• and to help them increase the ambition of their Nationally Determined Contributions by 2020.
• German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) launched the InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Solutions with the contribution of US$125 million.

‣ COP 25

• the second meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA2).
• News during the conference included:

1. Greenland’s ice sheet melting seven times faster than in 1990s.
2. Oxygen in the oceans is decreasing.
3. A quarter of the world’s population are at risk of water supply problems as mountain glaciers, snow-packs and alpine lakes are run down by global heating and rising demand.

• The results of the conference were disappointing at a time when climate action and concrete measures are considered urgent.
• On the other side, the European Union reached an agreement about The European Green Deal that should lower its emissions to zero by 2050.
• Climate Ambitious Coalition contains now “73 countries committed to net zero emissions by 2050, as well as a further 1214 actors (regions, cities, businesses, investors) who have pledged the same goal”. All the information about the pledges (governmental and non-governmental) is streamed to the Global Climate Action portal.