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A guide to COP

Climate change is moving much faster than we are, pushing ecosystems and people to their limits.

The impacts of the climate and nature crisis can be seen in wildfires, flood, and food crises at home here in the UK and around the world. 

This is why we need our leaders to take action. 

 

© Shutterstock / MarcelClemens / WWF

‘The earth is speaking; she tells us that we have no more time.'

Txai Suruí, Indigenous activist of the Paiter Suruí people 
Solar panels
© Shutterstock / foxbat / WWF

What is COP?

COP stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’, and in the United Nations system, it refers to an important meeting where governments gather and assess progress on key issues.

What are the different COP events?

There are different COP events on a range of topics relevant for governments, but the most relevant ones for WWF are:

  • The Climate COP (for example, in 2023 - COP28), which focuses on solving the issue of climate change with a clear emphasis on keeping global temperatures to 1.5°C.
  • The Biodiversity COP (for example, in 2022 - COP15), which focuses on halting and reversing the loss of nature around the world.
© Ming Jun Tan

What is the main purpose of the COP events?

COP is a vital opportunity for governments, businesses and other key players from around the world, to come together and accelerate global efforts to tackle the climate crisis and deliver the ‘Paris Climate Agreement’ agreed in 2015. The COP climate summit is also a chance for bold initiatives to be established and for progressing vital negotiations among governments in the hope that we can limit global warming to 1.5°C, ​to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change on people and nature. Biodiversity COP - is an opportunity to ensure the survival of species and halt the collapse of ecosystems across the world.

© David Bebber

Why is COP so important?

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time and it demands global collaboration. Each climate COP provides an opportunity for parties to gather and discuss how best to tackle climate change together.

If we’re to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C, which is critical for people and nature, we must drastically cut emissions now. The window to act is getting smaller all the time. COP was intended to set out how countries report progress to one another, fully operationalising and implementing the Paris Agreement.

It has a role in encouraging countries' to work towards a green, just and fair future - revitalising hope and confidence in the world's ability to prevent a climate catastrophe. And in the case of the biodiversity COP, to agree on a plan to set nature on a course to recovery, for a nature-positive world by 2030.

Aerial view of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest
© Andre Dib / WWF-Brazil

What do we need from the UK Government?

The UK Government has made some landmark commitments to tackle the nature and climate crisis. And whilst some progress was made at the most recent COP28 climate summit, the Government remains off track on four out of five of the key metrics WWF are using to track its progress.    

The UK Government must live up to their promises and deliver ambitious outcomes globally. Such as:  

  • Supporting a fair, fast and funded phase out of all fossil fuels, and phase in of renewables and energy efficiency measures;
  • Delivering climate finance spending to help the most vulnerable countries make a green transition and protect their people from the consequences of climate disasters;
  • Providing adequate funding and strong measures to ensure the promises of the Glasgow Declaration to end global deforestation are delivered, including leading by example at home and eliminating deforestation from UK supply chains.

Find out more about how they are tracking against these promises.

Promise Tracker

Previous COP event highlights

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    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: accelerating the transition away from polluting fossil fuels, providing funding for vulnerable countries already facing the impacts of climate change, recognizing 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. 

  • © Michel Gunther / WWF
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    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.

  • © David Bebber
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    COP26 Summary

    The United Nations summit on climate change, 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.

  • © Roger Leguen / WWF
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    COP15 Summary

    The United Nations summit on biodiversity COP15 took place in Montreal, Canada on the 7 December to 19 December 2022. Representatives of 196 governments were joined by delegates from a wide range of stakeholders such as the business and finance community, scientists and academics, Indigenous peoples, local communities, and youth representatives. After two full weeks of negotiations, COP15 closed with the adoption of a landmark agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 − a global goal hailed as the equivalent to climate’s 1.5C° target. Although more needs to be done to tackle the drivers of nature loss, the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed at COP15 is vital for our survival and if we are to bring our planet back from the brink and meet the scale of the nature crisis. Governments will now be tasked with implementing this agreement.

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