Conference of the Parties

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the governing body established by most major multilateral environmental agreements. It brings together every state that has ratified, acceded to, or otherwise become a party to the treaty, and is empowered to review implementation, adopt rules and procedures, approve budgets, and negotiate new instruments under the parent convention.

The best-known COP is that of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which has met annually since COP1 in Berlin in 1995. UNFCCC COPs have produced landmark outcomes including the Kyoto Protocol (COP3, 1997) and the Paris Agreement (COP21, 2015). Once a protocol or agreement enters into force, its own parties typically convene alongside the COP — as the CMP for the Kyoto Protocol and the CMA for the Paris Agreement — so a single annual meeting often serves multiple legal tracks.

COPs also exist under other regimes, including:

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP), which adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022.
• The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP).
• The Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions on chemicals and waste.
• CITES, governing trade in endangered species.

Decision-making procedure varies. The UNFCCC has never formally adopted its draft rules of procedure because parties could not agree on voting, so decisions are taken by consensus in practice — giving any single party significant leverage. Each COP is chaired by a Presidency held by the host country, which steers the agenda and brokers compromise texts. Sessions are supported by subsidiary bodies (such as the UNFCCC's SBSTA and SBI) that prepare technical and implementation questions between meetings. Observer states, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, and accredited media may attend but cannot vote.