A guide to the climate COP
Climate change is advancing faster than our response, pushing both ecosystems and people to their limits. It is a systemic challenge that demands action at every level and in every country. This is why we urgently need our leaders to step up and act.
‘The earth is speaking; she tells us that we have no more time.'
Txai Suruí, Indigenous activist of the Paiter Suruí people
What is the climate COP?
COP stands for “Conference of the Parties”. It is a major annual conference held under a United Nations convention where member governments (the "Parties") come together to review progress on key issues and agree on next steps for tackling global challenges.
The Climate COP takes place under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Here, world leaders negotiate how to deliver on the Paris Agreement – the global pact to limit warming to well below 2°C, and preferably 1.5°C, from pre-industrial levels by 2100. Achieving this goal is essential to avoiding the most dangerous impacts of climate change.
Why is the climate COP so important?
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and it demands global collaboration. The climate COP is a vital moment each year when governments, together with key non-state actors such as businesses, scientists, and civil society, come together from around the world to accelerate global efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
To avert the worst effects of climate change, global warming needs to be limited to 1.5°C with limited overshoot, and that requires countries drastically cutting their emissions now. The window for action is closing fast. COPs were created to provide a platform for countries to hold each other accountable, reporting on progress and agreeing on how to fully implement the Paris Agreement together.
What have the climate COPs achieved?
Centre to COPs is the negotiations, where all participating countries must agree on key decisions. These moments have shaped the direction of global climate responses, with the landmark outcomes below.
While some COPs have fallen short of expectations, they remain irreplaceable in uniting countries – which often come with very different priorities – around a shared direction of working together to address the climate crisis.
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© NASAMore COP3 (1997) - Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was the first international treaty with legally binding targets to address climate change. It provided concrete steps and mechanisms needed to fulfil the goals of the UNFCCC to combat climate change. It also described the important principle of "Common but Differentiated Responsibility" as a crucial concept for international climate diplomacy - the idea that industrialised countries, having contributed most to emissions, should take the lead in reducing them.
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© Discover AdventureMore COP21 (2015) - Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement significantly strengthened and replaced the Kyoto Protocol. It introduced a more ambitious temperature goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees, preferably 1.5ºC. It also introduced more robust climate action plans, notably the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are submitted by each country and must be regularly improved.
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© HUSNAIN ALI/AFP via Getty ImagesMore COP27 (2022) - A loss and damage fund
The Loss and Damage (L&D) Fund recognises that climate vulnerable countries and communities, which have often contributed the least to the climate crisis, face unavoidable impacts of climate change and need support. The fund delivers financial support for climate-vulnerable populations, marking a huge step for climate justice.
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© Use of this image in any way is strictly forbidden without prior written consent of Sam Hobson or WWF UK 2018 www.samhobson.co.ukMore COP28 (2023) - Transition away from fossil fuels
For the first time in decades of climate talks, countries agreed explicitly to transition away from fossil fuels, which are the biggest contributor to climate change. While the agreement falls short of conveying the urgency of the climate crisis, nevertheless it signals the “beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era”. Countries also agreed to triple global renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency as part of the same agreement – both huge steps towards a fossil fuel free world.
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What role does WWF play at COP?
Civil society plays a vital role in shaping the outcomes of COPs, both in the lead-up and during the negotiations. WWF is a so-called Observer NGO at COP, advocating for greater ambition and urgency in the decisions and political commitments made there.
WWF also provides technical guidance, expertise, research and insights to governments, and works as a bridge between stakeholders - helping foster collaborations across business, civil society and policymakers alike - to ensure all of society are engaged in helping address the climate crisis.
What are we calling for at COP30?
From 10 to 21 Nov 2025, COP30 will take place in Belém, a rainforest city in Brazil. In the lead-up to and during COP30, we are calling on the UK to take the lead on stopping deforestation by 2030.
This means elevating the phase out of deforestation on the political agenda at COP30 and underpinning it with actions that transform the food and finance systems.
COP30 is our opportunity for meaningful global action on deforestation. You can read our COP30 manifestos here:
WWF will also be working on other topics at COP30, such as fossil fuel phase out, food system transformation, nationally determined contributions (NDCs), climate finance, climate adaptation. You can find further details here.
Previous COP event highlights
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© Shutterstock / Denis Vrublevski / WWFMore COP29 Summary
The 29th United Nations climate change conference (COP29) was held in November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Labelled as the “Finance COP”, its central focus was on establishing a new target for climate finance (formally known as New Collective Quantified Goal or NCQG) to mobilise funds to developing countries for climate action.
Unfortunately, final commitment of mobilising US$300 billion a year by 2035 falls far short of what is needed. While governments agreed that there would be a roadmap to scale up finance towards $1.3 trillion, it is not clear how this level of finance will be delivered. COP29 also failed to send a clear signal on the urgent need to cut emissions and phase out fossil fuels, despite the momentum built at COP28. That’s why all eyes are now on COP30 to see if countries can come up with a credible plan to scale up finance.
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© Global Warming Images / WWFMore COP28 Summary
COP28 took place in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on the 30 November – 12 December 2023. It was the 28th annual meeting of the UN Convention on climate change. COP28 was the largest COP ever organised. It featured the very first Global Stocktake (GST) – a milestone moment when the world assessed its progress in meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement agreed in 2015, and decided on a course correction to ramp up action on climate change.
COP28 resulted in some important steps forward on: countries agreed to accelerate the transition away from polluting fossil fuels, providing funding for vulnerable countries already facing the impacts of climate change, recognising the need to transform the way we produce and consume food to tackle the climate crisis, producing new legislation in the UK to halt deforestation linked to products sold in our supermarkets, and protecting rivers, lakes and wetlands around the world. But disappointingly COP28 failed to call for a total phase out of coal, oil, and gas.
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© Michel Gunther / WWFMore COP27 Summary
In November 2022, the 27th United Nations climate change conference (COP27) was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt; part of the continent of Africa that’s estimated to be warming 1.5 times faster than the global average, and suffering some of the worst impacts of climate change, despite only contributing 4% of global CO2 emissions. The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, attended alongside other world leaders and thousands of representatives from NGOs, youth, Indigenous peoples and local communities, businesses and many others. This was an opportunity for world leaders to show how they planned on turning their promises into action.
Despite important progress on the issue of supporting vulnerable countries for loss and damage (the unavoidable impacts of climate change), COP27 was largely seen as a missed opportunity, with insufficient action on fossil fuels and finance.
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© David BebberMore COP26 Summary
The 26th United Nations climate change conference (COP26) took place in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021. Sir David Attenborough kicked off a vital two weeks in the fight against climate change with a message of hope to the world. Indigenous activist Txai Suruí also gave a powerful speech as part of the opening ceremony, speaking about the impact of the climate emergency on her and other Indigenous Peoples.
While there were genuine signs of progress at COP26, with real breakthroughs on some issues like forests and nature (and plenty of new promises made), the overall outcome was disappointing and did not lead to a step change in the pace and scale of climate action.
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