Conferences of the Parties

Climate Change literature frequently refers to ‘COPs’ — an abbreviation that stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. COPs are authorized by the United Nations. There are COPs for many topics, each of which is authorized by its own agreement or convention. Climate change COPs are just one of many Conferences of the Parties.

In this post we will review what COPs are, how they work, and how their decisions and agreements are enforced. We will also discuss some of the more significant climate change COPs.

International Conventions and COPs

Each Conference of the Parties implements the requirements and goals of a specific international convention. These conventions include: