COPing up with Climate Change

With the impetus to climate action and related negotiations, COP or the Conference of the Parties, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has taken centrestage since 1995.

- Shubhra Thakur

In its nearly three-decade history, the COP process has pulled together 198 parties dedicated to combat climate change at a global level cutting across sustainable development goals, national interests as well and economic opportunities in addressing climate crises. Delivering on crucial climate agreements, the COP trajectory has been full of challenges, pivotal turning points and discourses that have given form to current date climate action initiatives and set the course for future agenda.

The Early Years: COP1 to COP15

The first COP1 in Berlin, 1995, helped recognise that voluntary measures by countries were inadequate and laid the foundation for the Kyoto Protocol, agreed on at COP3 in 1997. This protocol was an important milestone as it introduced legally binding targets for cutting down developed countries’ emissions. Despite the significance, the treaty faced constraints of lack of binding obligations from developing countries and the withdrawal of key players such as the United States.

Over time, limited participation and changes in the global economic environment brought the realization of an integrated approach. At COP15 in Copenhagen, in 2009, the scope expanded to full participation and acceptance of critical requirements of immediate financial and technological aid to the developing world. Although the Copenhagen Accord established a goal of 2°C, it was largely considered a disappointment because of its failure to mandate legally binding commitment and absence of sufficient financial assurance.

The Paris Agreement: A Turning Point