The series

A field guide to how a COP works

I am going to my first COP in November, and I am writing down what I learn as I work it out. Start at the top if none of this is familiar yet.

Edition 01 · ArticleWhat a COP actually isWhere the word comes from, why it happens every single year, and how far a COP decision actually reaches.21 September 2026 · 5 min read

Edition 02 · CarouselThe process behind a COPThe whole year that leads to a COP, in one timeline: eight stops between April and November, five run by the UN and three convened outside it.23 September 2026 · 4 min read

Edition 03 · CarouselWho is who at a COPA map of the room: the two spaces under one roof, the four kinds of badge, the negotiating blocs, the nine observer constituencies, and the Champions.25 September 2026 · 5 min read

Edition 04 · ArticleHow the Action Agenda is organisedSix Axes, thirty Activation Groups, and the Plans to Accelerate Solutions underneath. The part of a COP most organisations can actually touch.28 September 2026 · 7 min read

Coming next

Each edition appears here the day it goes out on LinkedIn.

Edition 05Blue Zone, Green Zone and pavilionsA COP runs across two venues with two different sets of rules, and the pavilions inside one of them are where most of the useful sessions happen.30 September 2026

Edition 06How you actually get inThere is no ticket to a COP. Four routes lead into the Blue Zone, and one of them has a six-year queue behind it.2 October 2026

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