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—the 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. Starting in 2005 the conferences have also served as the "Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" (CMP);The Adaptation Fund . Retrieved 14 March 2014. also parties to the convention that are not parties to the protocol can participate in protocol-related meetings as observers. From 2011 to 2015, the meetings were used to negotiate the Paris Agreement as part of the Durban platform, which created a general path towards climate action. Any final text of a COP must be agreed by consensus.
The first UN Climate Change Conference (COP 1) was held in 1995 in Berlin.
Role of climate change conferences Member states of the UNFCCC meet annually at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to assess progress in combating climate change. COP provides a platform for governments, NGOs, and the private sector to collaborate and determine strategies for global climate policy and action. These conferences offer an opportunity to discuss climate governance measures, reduce carbon emissions, and promote the transition to more sustainable energy sources.
The UN Climate Change Conferences serve as key forums for shaping global policy, where representatives of various countries jointly address the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions and support states in enhancing their resilience to climate impacts.
Rotating Principle of the COPs When the member states of the UNFCCC drafted the rules and procedures of the annual conference, they decided the event should rotate between the 5 UN groups. That order being, WEOG - Western European and Other Group, Africa Group, Asia and Pacific Group, Eastern European Group and lastly GRULAC - Group of Latin American and the Caribbean. Ideally, the group nominates a country to host the event and also provide the COP President to chair the meeting. However, there have been years when the group only provided the COP President but the host country was from a different country or group.
This happened in 1996, when the COP President was from Zimbabwe but Switzerland hosted. In 1999, the COP President was from Poland, but Berlin was the COP host city. Also from the Eastern European Group, Hungary provided the COP President, and Milan, Italy was the host venue in 2003. In 2017, Bonn, Germany hosted the COP and Fiji provided the COP Presidency. In 2019, Chile was to host but had to cancel due to civil unrest. They provided the presidency whilst Madrid, Spain ended up being the host venue.
In total, Germany and Poland have been the host country 3 times each, Morocco and Argentina each twice. 27 cities have hosted COPs, with Bonn, Germany, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Marrakesh, Morocco each hosting twice.
One COP did not close - COP 6 in the Hague, due to disruptions and had to be suspended. An additional session – COP bis, or COP 6.5 was planned in Bonn, Germany the year after to officially close the session. There was only one year that the COP was cancelled – 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
List of conferences, presidents and locations YearNameHost city, countryCOP PresidentCOP Presidency COP President Regional Groups1995COP 1Berlin, GermanyAngela MerkelWestern Europe and Other Group1996COP 2Geneva, SwitzerlandChen ChimutengwendeAfrica Group1997COP 3Kyoto, JapanHiroshi OhkiAsia and Pacific Group1998COP 4Buenos Aires, ArgentinaMaría Julia AlsogarayGroup of Latin America Caribbean1999COP 5Bonn, GermanyJan SzyszkoEastern Europe Group2000COP 6The Hague, NetherlandsJan PronkWestern Europe and Other Group2001COP 6-2Bonn, Germany Jan PronkWestern Europe and Other Group 2001COP 7Marrakesh, MoroccoMohamed ElyazghiAfrica Group2002COP 8New Delhi, IndiaT. R. BaaluAsia and Pacific Group2003COP 9Milan, ItalyMiklós PersányiEastern Europe Group2004COP 10Buenos Aires, ArgentinaGinés González GarcíaGroup of Latin America Caribbean2005COP 11Montreal, CanadaStéphane DionWestern Europe and Other Group2006COP 12Nairobi, KenyaKivutha KibwanaAfrica Group2007COP 13Bali, IndonesiaRachmat WitoelarAsia and Pacific Group2008COP 14Poznań, PolandMaciej NowickiEastern Europe Group2009COP 15Copenhagen, DenmarkConnie HedegaardWestern Europe and Other Group2010COP 16Cancún, MexicoPatricia EspinosaGroup of Latin America Caribbean2011COP 17Durban, South AfricaMaite Nkoana-MashabaneAfrica Group2012COP 18Doha, QatarAbdullah bin Hamad Al-AttiyahAsia and Pacific Group2013COP 19Warsaw, PolandMarcin KorolecEastern Europe Group2014COP 20Lima, PeruManuel Pulgar-VidalGroup of Latin America Caribbean2015COP 21Paris, FranceLaurent FabiusWestern Europe and Other Group2016COP 22Marrakesh, MoroccoSalaheddine MezouarAfrica Group2017COP 23Bonn, GermanyFrank Bainimarama,Asia and Pacific Group2018COP 24Katowice, PolandMichał KurtykaEastern Europe Group2019COP 25Madrid, SpainCarolina SchmidtGroup of Latin America Caribbean2020COP 26Glasgow, United KingdomPostponed due to COVIDUnited KingdomWestern Europe and Other Group 2021COP 26Glasgow, United KingdomAlok SharmaWestern Europe and Other Group2022COP 27Sharm El Sheikh, EgyptSameh ShoukryAfrica Group2023COP 28Dubai, United Arab EmiratesSultan Al JaberAsia and Pacific Group2024COP 29Baku, AzerbaijanMukhtar Babayev,Eastern Europe Group2025COP 30Belém, Brazil André Corrêa do LagoGroup of Latin America Caribbean2026COP 31Antalya, TurkeyMurat KurumWestern Europe and Other Group2027COP 32Addis Ababa, EthiopiaGedion TimothewosAfrica Group2028COP 33to be determinedto be determinedto be determinedAsia and Pacific Group
1995: COP 1, Berlin, Germany The first UNFCCC Conference of the Parties took place from 28 March to 7 April 1995 in Berlin, Germany. Delegates from 117 Parties and 53 Observer States attended the conference. One of the central issues of COP 1 was the adequacy of individual country commitments, resulting in a mandate to begin a process toward individual country action for the period beyond 2000. This included strengthening the commitments of Annex I Parties in Article 4.2(a) and (b).
Delegates also established: a pilot phase for Joint Implementation projects; an agreement that the Permanent Secretariat should be located in Bonn, Germany; and the Subsidiary Bodies. Conference delegates did not reach consensus on the Rules of Procedures, and a decision on voting rules was deferred to COP 2.
1996: COP 2, Geneva, Switzerland COP 2 took place from 8–19 July 1996 in Geneva, Switzerland. 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:
Accepted the scientific findings on climate change proffered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its second assessment (1995); Rejected uniform "harmonized policies" in favor of flexibility; Called for "legally binding mid-term targets".
1997: COP 3, Kyoto, Japan COP 3 took place on 1–11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. After intensive negotiations, it adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which outlined the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation for Annex I countries, along with what came to be known as Kyoto mechanisms such as emissions trading, clean development mechanism and joint implementation. In a separate decision of the Conference of Parties, countries agreed to a range of national security exemptions which stated that bunker fuels and emissions from multilateral military operations would not be part of national emissions totals and would be reported outside of those totals. Most industrialised countries and some central European economies in transition (all defined as Annex B countries) agreed to legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of an average of 6 to 8% below 1990 levels between the years 2008–2012, defined as the first emissions budget period. The United States would be required to reduce its total emissions an average of 7% below 1990 levels; however, Congress did not ratify the treaty after Clinton signed it. The Bush administration explicitly rejected the protocol in 2001.
1998: COP 4, Buenos Aires, Argentina
COP 4 took place on 2–14 November 1998 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It had been expected that the remaining issues unresolved in Kyoto would be finalised at this meeting. However, the complexity and difficulty of finding agreement on these issues proved insurmountable, and instead the parties adopted a two-year "Buenos Aires Plan of Action" (BAPA) to advance efforts and to devise mechanisms for implementing the Kyoto Protocol, to be completed by 2000. During COP 4, Argentina and Kazakhstan expressed their commitment to take on the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation, the first two non-Annex countries to do so.
1999: COP 5, Bonn, Germany COP 5 took place between 25 October and 5 November 1999, in Bonn, Germany. It was primarily a technical meeting, and did not reach major conclusions. 165 Parties were represented at the conference. Conference delegates continued their work toward fulfilling the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA) adopted at COP 4. In the last two days of the Conference, COP 5 adopted 32 draft decisions and conclusions related to the review of the implementation of commitments. Despite reaching no major conclusions, COP-5 served as an important "intermediate step" laying out the difficult path to finalizing the Kyoto Protocol at COP-6.
2000: COP 6, The Hague, Netherlands COP 6 took place on 13–25 November 2000, in The Hague, Netherlands. Many in the international community and domestic environmental groups saw this meeting as a chance to finalize a Protocol that could secure ratification. Specifically, COP-6 was intended to complete work on the two-year Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA), agreed upon at COP-4. However, these groups saw the United States as a roadblock to finalise such a Protocol. The discussions evolved rapidly into a high-level negotiation over the major political issues. These included major controversy over the United States' proposal to allow credit for carbon "sinks" in forests and agricultural lands that would satisfy a major proportion of the US emissions reductions in this way; disagreements over consequences for non-compliance by countries that did not meet their emission reduction targets; and difficulties in resolving how developing countries could obtain financial assistance to deal with adverse effects of climate change and meet their obligations to plan for measuring and possibly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In the final hours of COP 6, despite some compromises agreed between the United States and some EU countries, notably the United Kingdom, the EU countries as a whole, led by Denmark and Germany, rejected the compromise positions, and the talks in The Hague collapsed. Jan Pronk, the President of COP 6, suspended COP 6 without agreement, with the expectation that negotiations would later resume. It was later announced that the COP 6 meetings (termed "COP 6 bis") would be resumed in Bonn, Germany, in the second half of July. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the parties to the UNFCCC, COP 7, had been set for Marrakesh, Morocco, in October–November 2001.
2001: COP 6-2, Bonn, Germany