I get lots of queries in regards to the United Nations COP conferences: Ought to I’m going? How do I get to attend? What truly takes place? And so forth. Therefore, this explainer, initially drafted for the GreenBiz crew. It’s not authoritative or complete; merely it’s the attitude of somebody who has been going to those gatherings for years.
What’s COP?
Yearly within the November/December timeframe, the U.N., via its United Nations Framework Conference on Local weather Change (UNFCCC for, um, brief), brings collectively practically 200 nationwide representatives (a “Convention of the Events,” or COP) to evaluate progress and negotiate phrases of worldwide local weather agreements. The main focus for a lot of the previous decade has been on advancing the targets set forth at COP21 in 2015, which produced the Paris Settlement, a legally binding worldwide treaty on local weather change adopted by 196 international locations.
The conferences are held around the globe (however by no means within the U.S., for causes I’m not fully certain of). They usually lengthen over two weeks. My first one was COP15, in Copenhagen in 2009. Final yr’s occasion, COP27, was in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt; COP28 is developing in Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. The general theme for COP28 is a “international stocktake” — in impact, a list of every nation’s progress to evaluate progress towards assembly the targets of the Paris Settlement.
Stocktake spoiler alert: It’s not going effectively.
Every COP is a crowded, complicated and sometimes confounding occasion, but in addition a fantastic, if overwhelming, studying expertise.
COPs have a tendency to attract 20,000 or extra folks, though most don’t attend for the whole 12 days. (I usually go for every week or so.)
Be aware: There’s a separate U.N. COP collection, the United Nations Biodiversity Convention, which takes place each different yr. Considerably confusingly, it has its personal numbering system much like that of the local weather COPs. The latest was COP15 in Montreal final December. (Right here’s my colleague Pete Could’s take on that one.)
How do I get entry?
All credentials are issued by the United Nations. It’s a fairly convoluted system, with varied varieties of credentials, every with its personal degree of entry. Most are meant for governments or nongovernmental organizations (a.ok.a. NGOs). My colleagues and I usually attend as press and are required to point out hyperlinks to precise articles as a part of the appliance course of. Nevertheless, one can attend lots of issues (see under) with none credentials. For my first COP, in Copenhagen, I had no credentials though I nonetheless received to do some cool issues.
What truly occurs at COP?
I consider COP as a collection of concentric circles:
Within the heart ring is the Blue Zone, which homes the negotiations among the many assembled nations in regards to the phrases of the treaty, and the progress being made, or lack thereof. Dignitaries, from CEOs to heads of state to celebrities, usually make appearances, nonetheless briefly, on the negotiations and should converse to the delegates. Most such bigshots, nonetheless, spend most of their time in non-public conferences and occasions.
The Blue Zone is, understandably, a high-security space that’s restricted to these with sure credentials (together with these of us with press credentials). The Blue Zone additionally has an enormous expo house, the place nationwide delegations have pavilions — some small, others fairly massive, that includes occasion areas, non-public assembly rooms and extra. A number of NGOs additionally exhibit right here, together with a really small variety of firms; it’s unclear which firms get to exhibit there.
The Blue Zone is the closest COP has to a predominant stage, though the U.N. conferences are sometimes performative and never that enlightening, until you’re a local weather coverage nerd. (A lot of the particular work occurs out of sight in smaller assembly rooms.) There’s numerous parliamentary process, not lots of partaking speeches, with solely uncommon flashes of drama among the many delegates.
Many COP days are themed. At COP28, there can be a Finance Day, a Know-how and Innovation Day, a Youth Day, an Inclusion Day, an Power and Business Day, a Nature Day and a number of other others. These themes inform, however don’t dictate, some actions that happen within the Blue Zone. In actuality, all these matters and extra are entrance and heart most days.
Simply outdoors the Blue Zone are demonstrators of varied stripes, from indigenous teams to animal-welfare teams (usually in animal costume) to these calling for the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels (an enormous concern, particularly this yr). They are often something from entertaining to annoying, relying partly on how a lot they’re impeding the move of individuals and site visitors at any given time.
The second ring is the Inexperienced Zone, an expo house primarily for NGOs. It’s free and open to the general public, albeit simply outdoors the safe space with some degree of safety.
And, ever since COP18, there’s been a Local weather Motion Hub, additionally not removed from the Blue Zone and open to those that apply for a move, the place a number of speaker collection and different occasions happen. There may be additionally a Local weather Motion Innovation Zone that includes local weather tech firms and occasions, and a Resilience Hub with in depth programming. Some, however not all, of those applications are additionally streamed stay globally.
Within the third ring are official aspect occasions, normally at close by motels or convention facilities: the World Local weather Summit; the Sustainable Innovation Discussion board; the Local weather Innovation Discussion board; and occasions from the World Enterprise Council for Sustainable Improvement, World Financial Discussion board and lots of others. Bloomberg, The Economist, The New York Occasions, Fortune, the Monetary Occasions and The Wall Road Journal incessantly maintain one- or two-day occasions. The host nation usually hosts numerous official aspect occasions or pavilions round city.
The ultimate ring is — effectively, the whole lot else. A whole bunch, presumably hundreds, of receptions, panel discussions, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, cocktail events, meet-ups and extra happening all around the area. At COP27, for instance, I attended a sitdown dinner hosted by an Israel-based mobile meat firm, a reception hosted by the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator and a roundtable dialogue on the Zero-Carbon Future house, amongst what appeared a dizzying variety of different occasions. The earlier yr, in Glasgow, I spoke at a daylong occasion sponsored by S&P World, dropped in on a reception at JLL’s native workplace and attended invitation-only occasions led by architect and designer Invoice McDonough (who usually hosts his personal networking house at COP). You get the thought: lots of exercise, day and evening.
So, ought to I’m going?
It’s laborious to make a case for or in opposition to. Every COP is a crowded, complicated and sometimes confounding occasion. Logistics could be massively difficult. (Consider all of the dignitaries and their motorcades blocking site visitors, to not point out the demand for cabs and transit for the remainder of us.) Being resourceful, versatile, spontaneous and affected person are all good qualities. One can plan some actions earlier than leaving dwelling, however a lot of my itinerary occurs as soon as I’m on the bottom in actual time. Sadly, there’s no central repository of COP-related occasion info, no less than past the official U.N. occasions.
It’s additionally costly to journey to COPs and lodging could be expensive, and sometimes a good distance from the motion. The price (and carbon footprint) alone could also be laborious for a lot of to justify. It’s finest to plan early within the yr — I usually make my preparations in late spring to get moderately priced housing and flights — however good offers could also be discovered nearer to the occasion.
Total, COP is usually a nice, if overwhelming, studying expertise, a chance to satisfy folks from around the globe and to delve into a much wider set of points and life experiences than one usually encounters. It may be a wealthy and gratifying week or two, which is why I maintain going again.
You’ll simply must create your personal expertise.
