Blue Zone, Green Zone and pavilions
The Blue Zone is run by the UN and needs accreditation. The Green Zone is run by the host government and anyone can walk in. The pavilions sit inside the Blue Zone.
Every time I say I am going to COP31, someone asks if they can come. The honest answer depends entirely on which of the two venues they mean.
A COP happens across two. The Blue Zone is run by the UN and you need accreditation to get through the door. The Green Zone is run by the host government and anyone can walk in. In Belém, 700,000 people went through the Green Zone in the two months before the conference even started.
What a pavilion actually is
Inside the Blue Zone sit the pavilions. For example, between 100 and 150 of them ran at COP30. Each one leases its space, sets its own programme and runs it for the full two weeks, which makes them the most useful rooms in the building for anyone without a negotiating seat.
It also makes a COP very hard to follow. Hundreds of sessions run in parallel every single day, across dozens of pavilions, and there is no single place that lists them all. Working out where to be is a skill in itself.
The Zero Waste Pavilion
In Antalya there will be a Zero Waste Pavilion, led by the Zero Waste Foundation, with three stages and its own programme across the fortnight, plus spaces for information, exhibition and working sessions. It is where zero waste will sit during COP31.
- Blue Zone
- The UN-managed venue. Negotiations, delegation offices and pavilions. Accreditation required.
- Green Zone
- The host government's own venue, open to the public with no badge.
- Pavilion
- A leased space inside the Blue Zone with its own programme, outside the official COP agenda.