What is COP?

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the Conference of the Parties (COP), is a large meeting of governments from all over the world. These governments are members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At these conferences, governments assess international progress towards the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in global temperatures.

The first conference (COP1) was held in Berlin in 1995. The conference is the largest annual event held by the United Nations. Thousands of people attend, including government, civil society, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and the media.

The UNFCCC and COP

The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty that aims to address the negative impact of human activity on the climate. Its aim is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Greenhouse gases produced by human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, trap heat in the atmosphere, causing global warming and climate change.

The UNFCCC treaty recognises that global cooperation is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 198 countries, including Ireland, have ratified the Convention. This means they are bound to the treaty. COP is the decision-making body of the UNFCCC. The COP meets once a year to measure progress and negotiate different ways of combating climate change.

How is COP organised?

The host country in which the COP takes place usually changes every year. It rotates between the five UN regional groups.

These groups include:

• The African Group
• The Asia-Pacific Group
• The Eastern Europe Group
• The Latin American and Caribbean Group
• The Western European and Others Group

Members of the host region elect a President. The President’s role is to ensure the conference runs smoothly. They work to build effective international relationships between country delegations, institutions, businesses and stakeholders. The aim is to achieve agreement on key climate issues.

The UN Climate Change Secretariat handles the organisational duties of the conference. The Secretariat is made up of administrative staff from all over the world and headed by the Executive Secretary.

Each member state sends an official group of representatives to participate in the conference and promote their country’s interests and perspectives. This is called a delegation. Ireland’s national delegation to COPs usually includes the Taoiseach and the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, as well as other government officials. Representatives from Irish environmental organisations and youth delegates often attend COPs too.

What does the conference try to achieve?

The COP is the biggest international stage for discussing climate action. It highlights the need for a collective and fair approach to dealing with the climate crisis. Each year, world leaders come together in the hopes of agreeing on a new international agreement on taking climate action. Climate activists, experts and other influential members of society also take part in events like panel discussions, exhibitions and protests.

In 2015, COP21 saw the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement. This is the most ambitious international climate treaty to date. The overall aim of the agreement is to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees celsius. It also aims to make significant efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This is the level before the Industrial Revolution when we started burning fossil fuels in factories.

Under the agreement, countries must take significant steps towards reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. However, the effectiveness of the Paris Agreement has been questioned. Many member states, including Ireland, are failing to deliver on their targets. Learn more about the Paris Climate Agreement.

Does COP achieve its goals?

There are a lot of competing interests and power imbalances between countries, industries and stakeholders at COP. This means that negotiations are often intense and their outcomes can be disappointing for those campaigning for strong and meaningful climate action. For example, at past COPs, wealthy countries deliberately delayed the setting up of a loss and damage fund. A loss and damage fund would pay for the destruction that climate-vulnerable countries have to deal with as a result of climate change.

Fossil fuel lobbyists have an influential presence at the conferences and have previously managed to block legislation that would see a reduction in the use of gas and oil. These delays and obstructions are made at the expense of populations who have the most to lose if the goals of the conference are not met. These populations include Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean, indigenous and nomad communities, women and young people.

Make your voice heard at the next COP

If you would like to get involved with COP, you can contact government ministers or your local TD. Let them know what issues you think Ireland should prioritise during the conference. Emphasise that Ireland should support every effort to take strong, ambitious climate action at COP.

Before getting in touch with a politician, research your idea. Find out the most pressing climate issues surrounding COP and how governments can address them. Here are some of the issues many people are demanding action on at COP:

• A complete phaseout of fossil fuels
• A just transition towards a greener future that leaves no one behind
• Increased efforts to boost climate resilience and adapt to the effects of the climate crisis as they worsen across the world
• The empowerment and equal participation of groups who are usually left out of climate decision-making, such as young people and indigenous communities, in COP

Learn more about how to contact politicians about the climate crisis.

Need more information, advice or guidance?

We offer information, advice and guidance about the issues that matter to you. Our online Youth Information Chat service is for 16 to 25 year olds and is available Monday to Friday, 4pm to 8pm (excluding Bank Holidays).

• Chat now to a trained Youth Information Officer
• Or leave us a message and we will email you back