Historical overview of COP 2009-2017

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the Convention or UNFCCC) is an international treaty which acknowledges the existence of anthropogenic climate change and provides the framework for climate change negotiations. The Convention was adopted in 1992 during the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro, with the treaty entering into force in 1994 and 196 countries ratifying it. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC and is made up of representatives from all parties.

The COP has met each year since 1995 to review the implementation of the Convention. Each COP elaborates and builds on the decisions and resolutions of previous COPs, with the Kyoto Protocol adopted at COP3 in 1997 being one of the better known agreements. At COP21 in Paris The “Paris Agreement" was reached and has been widely proclaimed as a historic deal and one that will inevitably lead to decarbonisation. The implementation of the Paris Agreement will be at the centre of negotiations for COP22 in Marrakech.

The numbers and locations of recent climate negotiations, along with our briefings on the conferences, follows below.

• COP15 – 2009: Copenhagen
• COP16 – 2010: Cancun
• COP17 – 2011: Durban
• COP18 – 2012: Doha
• COP19 – 2013: Warsaw
• COP20 – 2014: Lima
• COP21 - 2015: Paris
• COP22 – 2016: Marrakesh

Norton Rose Fulbright’s Briefings on COP: 2009 – 2016

• United Nations climate change conference, 1–12 December 2008
• CERs, ERUs and the expiry of the first commitment period: carry-over issues, August 2009
• Blog: UN Climate change negotiations, Bangkok, September/October 2009
• Global climate change - a Norton Rose Group newsletter, November 2009 edition
• An unsuccessful outcome at Copenhagen will have a detrimental impact on business, 26 November 2009
• Norton Rose publishes survey on hopes for Copenhagen, 26 November 2009
• Copenhagen: CDM and JI, January 2010
• Summary of Copenhagen outcomes, January 2010
• The Copenhagen Accord, January 2010
• The Copenhagen Accord: An update, February 2010
• Blog: UN climate change negotiations, Bonn, June 2010
• Blog: UN climate change negotiations, Bonn, August 2010
• Blog: UN climate change negotiations, Tianjin, October 2010
• Blog: UN climate change negotiations, Cancun, December 2010
• Cancun 2010 Reports, December 2010
• Scaling-up renewable energy in Africa DR Congo Updater, November 2011
• Scaling-up renewable energy in Africa South Africa Updater, November 2011
• Scaling-up renewable energy in Tanzania Updater, November 2011
• Blog: UN climate change negotiations, Bonn, June 2011
• Blog: UN climate change negotiations, Durban, November - December 2011
• Scaling-up renewable energy in Africa series, A series of short publications focusing on in-country priorities for scaling up renewable energy, June 2012
• Blog: UN climate change negotiations, Doha, November - December 2012
• Is the world on the pathway to achieving 2°C?, October 2013
• Momentum building towards Paris June 2015
• Australia is latest country to submit climate targets to UN September 2015
• Ten things to know about COP21 October 2015
• Update on COP21 negotiation texts November 2015
• A hard push to the left: Alberta’s proposed Carbon Competitiveness Regulation November 2015  
• RenewEconomy series November 2015
• COP21 may boost LNG-to-power, November 2015
• COP21 – The Paris Agreement June 2016
• Partnerships Bulletin, January 2016
• A clean power initiative for Africa, February 2016
• The Paris Agreement: the future of renewables in East Africa?, April 2016
• Energy Storage Projects: a global overview of trends and developments, May 2016
• Structure of a solar power purchase agreement, June 2016
• Renewable energy in Latin America, October 2016
• ICAO’s new Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) and what it means for airlines, October 2016
• IETA: COP22 summary report, November 2016
• Results of 4th ERF auction announced, November 2016
• Paris Agreement comes into force, November 2016
• Global task force recommends mainstreaming climate related financial disclosure, December 2016
• Victoria’s new climate change legislation introduced into Parliament, December 2016
• Capacity mechanisms, December 2016

Videos

• Why the COP21 negotiations are important for the private sector August 2015
• How will COP21 affect the financial sector? October 2015

Webinars

• COP21: key issues and expectations November 2015
• The keys to successfully developing renewable energy projects in emerging markets December 2015
• COP21: Outcomes, impact and next steps for your business December 2015
• Post COP21 debrief December 2015
• COP22 and ICAO: Key issues and expectations, October 2016
• COP22 WBCSD: Low Emissions Solutions Conference Media Advisory, November 2016
• COP22 side event: Green Finance (Department of International Trade), November 2016
• COP22 side event: Africa GreenCo/The Rockefeller Foundation (Sustainable events), November 2016
• COP22 side event: Masen, November 2016
• The EU-ETS and CORSIA - the new ICAO Emissions Regime, November 2016