Welcome!
In 1992, countries agreed on an international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as a framework for international cooperation to combat climate change by limiting average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change and coping with its impacts. There are 198 countries that have ratified the Convention, called Parties to the Convention, and every year, they hold a Conference of the Parties (COP).
This course introduces the international climate change regime, its three key instruments (The UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement), and the institutional arrangements for the climate change intergovernmental process. This course focuses on UNFCCC rules of procedure regarding the negotiation process as well as the mechanism for convening the Parties through various forums and working groups, including the presidency and bureau, observers and elections, and the decision making and reporting processes.