Conference of the Parties – COP – is the name of the yearly international meeting that focuses on climate change. The purpose is to supervise and organise the efforts to fight global warming. The UN has arranged COP meetings since 1995. The participants are always the member countries of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). However, other actors also participate as observers, speakers, and advisors. 

Background

The first global environmental agreement was the UNFCCC, created in 1992. UNFCCC also addresses the secretariat to the environmental deal. It states that industrialised countries should take more responsibility than developing ones to fight climate change. More so, UNFCCC is the foundation of all the environmental work organised by the UN. 

The decision-making body of the UNFCCC is the Conference of the Parties, the COP meetings. The first one was in 1995. The Kyoto protocol and the Paris Agreement are two of the most significant outcomes of these meetings. 

Conference of the Parties meetings

The first COP meeting took part in Berlin in 1995. Naturally, it was called COP1. Since then, there have been 27 other meetings. Furthermore, one of the most famous meetings was COP21 in Paris in 2015. It is well known since it resulted in a comprehensive international effort known as the Paris Agreement. Through this agreement, countries decided to keep global warming below 2°C. This deal requires enormous global and national efforts. For example, the world needs to phase out burning fossil fuels as soon as possible. 

COP or CMP

Concerning the Conference of the Parties, it is common to hear about CMP, Meeting of the Parties. These meetings occur at the same time. However, the CMP only includes nations that have signed the Kyoto protocol. In short, the Kyoto protocol is the international agreement that came before the Paris Agreement. It came into force in 2005 when the parties met for the first time. Therefore, the first CMP, CMP1, occurred at COP11 in Montreal, Canada. More so, the Kyoto protocol is one of the most critical and historic global agreements about the climate. It states that global warming is occurring and that humans have caused it.

All the Conference of the Parties:

1995: COP 1, Berlin, Germany

1996: COP 2, Geneva, Switzerland

1997: COP 3, Kyoto, Japan

1998: COP 4, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1999: COP 5, Bonn, Germany

2000: COP 6, The Hague, Netherlands

2001: COP 6, Bonn, Germany

2001: COP 7, Marrakech, Morocco

2002: COP 8, New Delhi, India

2003: COP 9, Milan, Italy

2004: COP 10, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2005: COP 11/CMP 1, Montreal, Canada

2006: COP 12/CMP 2, Nairobi, Kenya

2007: COP 13/CMP 3, Bali, Indonesia

2008: COP 14/CMP 4, Poznań, Poland

2009: COP 15/CMP 5, Copenhagen, Denmark

2010: COP 16/CMP 6, Cancún, Mexico

2011: COP 17/CMP 7, Durban, South Africa

2012: COP 18/CMP 8, Doha, Qatar

2013: COP 19/CMP 9, Warsaw, Poland

2014: COP 20/CMP 10, Lima, Peru

2015: COP 21/CMP 11, Paris, France

2016: COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1-1, Marrakech, Morocco

2017: COP 23/CMP 13/CMA 1-2, Bonn, Germany

2018: COP 24/CMP 14/CMA 1-3, Katowice, Poland

2019: COP 25/CMP 15/CMA 2, Madrid, Spain

2020: COP26 was supposed to take place in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2020. However, it happened in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

2021: COP26, Glasgow, Scotland 

2022: COP27, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

2023: COP28, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

Example of source: Met Office