Conference of the Parties under the UNFCCC

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the meeting of countries that are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where they collectively oversee action under the Convention. Established by Article 7, it is the Convention’s supreme body, responsible for reviewing implementation and taking decisions necessary to promote its effective implementation.

Institutional status and participation

The COP provides the Convention’s central forum for collective decision-making. It is an intergovernmental body, not a scientific assessment organisation.

• All Parties to the Convention are represented in the COP; eligible international organisations and governmental or non-governmental bodies may participate as observers under the Convention’s rules.
• Ordinary sessions are held annually, unless the COP decides otherwise; extraordinary sessions may also be convened under the Convention.
• The COP establishes subsidiary bodies as necessary and reviews their reports, providing an institutional framework for continuing work between conferences.

Reviewing and advancing implementation

Under Article 7, the COP keeps the implementation of the Convention and related legal instruments under regular review. Its role extends beyond hosting negotiations to supervising how the climate regime functions.

• It assesses implementation on the basis of information supplied by Parties, including the effects of their measures and progress towards the Convention’s objective.
• It facilitates information exchange and promotes comparable methodologies, including those used for greenhouse-gas inventories and evaluating emission-reduction measures.
• It makes recommendations and adopts decisions to promote implementation, while seeking to mobilise financial resources in accordance with the Convention.
• The Convention’s financial mechanism functions under the guidance of, and is accountable to, the COP, which decides its policies, programme priorities and eligibility criteria.

Negotiation and coordination within the climate regime

The COP is the political and institutional forum through which Parties develop collective responses and further elaborate the climate regime. The UNFCCC secretariat supports its meetings and implementation-related work.

• The COP may adopt protocols to the Convention; their legal obligations depend on the relevant treaty provisions and a country’s participation.
• The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) supplies scientific and technological advice, while the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) assists with assessing and reviewing implementation.
• The COP must be distinguished from the CMP, which serves the Kyoto Protocol, and the CMA, which serves the Paris Agreement; these are separate governing bodies, even when their sessions occur alongside COP meetings.