What is COP 15

COP 15 refers to the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP), which this year takes place in Copenhagen. The negotiating process on climate change revolves around the sessions of the UNFCCC, which meets every year to review the implementation of the convention. The COP adopts decisions and resolutions, published in reports of the COP.

The COP also serves as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) which also adopts decisions and resolutions on the implementation of its provisions. Participation in COP15 and CMP 5 is restricted to duly nominated representatives of the parties, observer states, accredited observer organisations and accredited press/media.

Thousands of participants including government representatives and observer organizations have attended previous climate change conferences. The sessions in Bali, Indonesia (COP13) attracted over 10,000 participants, including 3,500 government officials, over 5,800 representatives of UN bodies and agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and nearly 1,500 accredited members of the media. This year in Copenhagen the figure may be even higher with 20,000 people expected and at least half of them will be from civil society.

More than 180 trade unionists have already registered to attend the meeting and the union delegation is being coordinated by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in close cooperation with LO-Denmark. In addition to the negotiations, a number of major trade union activities have been planned, the largest of which is the World of Work Pavilion (WOW) in the LO-Denmark building on December 14 to 16. During this activity a whole series of events will take place to promote the views of trade unions and what we believe any future agreement should contain.