The process behind a COP
A COP is two weeks in November, but the text that gets agreed there is written across the whole year, at eight meetings on four continents.
If you only look at November you will always arrive late. The negotiating text that Parties argue over in Antalya is drafted months earlier, and most of the coalitions that show up with something to announce were assembled somewhere else.
The eight stops
- Climate Week Yeosu, Korea, 21 to 25 April. One of only two official UN Climate Weeks in the year.
- Zero Waste Forum, Istanbul, Türkiye, 5 to 7 June. Independent, convened by the Zero Waste Foundation with the COP31 High-Level Champion.
- Bonn, Germany, 8 to 18 June. Officially SB64, the 64th session of the treaty's two standing committees. This is where the negotiating text is drafted.
- London Climate Action Week, United Kingdom, 20 to 28 June. Independent, organised by E3G. The focus is finance.
- Climate Week Baku, Azerbaijan, 7 to 11 September. The second official UN Climate Week.
- Climate Week NYC, United States, 20 to 27 September. Independent, organised by the Climate Group, alongside the UN General Assembly, which is why it draws government delegations.
- Pre-COP31, Nadi, Fiji, 5 to 8 October, with a leaders component in Tuvalu. It is in the Pacific because Australia chairs the negotiations at this COP.
- COP31, Antalya, Türkiye, 9 to 20 November.
Five of these are run by the UN. Three are convened outside it, and they behave differently: no negotiating mandate, but often where the money and the coalitions move.
The new stop for our sector
The Zero Waste Forum in Istanbul drew 5,000 people on site with 150 countries represented, convened by the Zero Waste Foundation together with the COP31 High-Level Champion. For anyone working on waste, reuse or circularity, it is now a fixture on this map rather than a side event.
Where to show up, depending on what you work on
- Negotiations: Bonn, in June.
- Finance: London, in June.
- Reaching governments: New York, in September.
- Waste and circularity: Istanbul in June, and Antalya in November.
- SB
- Subsidiary Body. The treaty has two standing committees that meet mid-year in Bonn. SB64 is their 64th session.
- Pre-COP
- A ministerial meeting a month before the COP, hosted by the incoming presidency, to narrow the hardest questions.
- High-Level Champion
- A person appointed by a COP presidency to mobilise companies, cities, regions and investors.