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The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.
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The COP serves as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). All States that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol are represented at the CMP, while States that are not Parties participate as observers. The CMP reviews the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and takes decisions to promote its effective implementation.
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The SBSTA supports the work of the COP and the CMP through the provision of timely information and advice on scientific and technological matters as they relate to the Convention or its Kyoto Protocol.
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The SBI supports the work of the COP and the CMP through the assessment and review of the effective implementation of the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol.
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The AWG-KP is a subsidiary body that was established by decision 1/CMP.1 to consider future commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol. The CMP at its eighth session, by adopting the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, decided that the AWG-KP had fulfilled the mandate set out in decision 1/CMP.1, and that its work was concluded.
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The AWG-LCA was established as a subsidiary body under the Convention by decision 1/CP.13 (the Bali Action Plan) to conduct a comprehensive process to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action, now, up to and beyond 2012, in order to reach an agreed outcome to be presented to the COP for adoption. The COP, at its eighteenth session, adopted the agreed outcome pursuant to the Bali Action Plan and noted that this decision, together with decisions adopted by the COP at its sixteenth and seventeenth sessions, constitutes the agreed outcome pursuant to decision 1/CP.13.
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The Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) is a subsidiary body that was established by decision 1/CP.17 in December 2011. The mandate of the ADP is to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties, which is to be completed no later than 2015 in order for it to be adopted at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and for it to come into effect and be implemented from 2020. By the same decision, the COP launched a workplan on enhancing mitigation ambition to identify and to explore options for a range of actions that can close the ambition gap with a view to ensuring the highest possible mitigation efforts by all Parties.
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The Bureau supports the COP and the CMP through the provision of advice and guidance regarding the ongoing work under the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol, the organization of their sessions and the operation of the secretariat, especially at times when the COP and the CMP are not in session. The Bureau is elected from representatives of Parties nominated by each of the five United Nations regional groups and small island developing States.
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The functions of the Compliance Committee of the Kyoto Protocol are to provide advice and assistance to Parties in implementing the Kyoto Protocol, promote compliance by Parties with their commitments and determine cases of non-compliance and apply consequences in cases where Parties are not complying with their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
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The CDM Executive Board supervises the Kyoto Protocols CDM under the authority and guidance of the CMP. The CDM Executive Board is the ultimate point of contact for CDM project participants for the registration of projects and the issuance of certified emission reductions.
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The JISC, under the authority and guidance of the CMP, supervises the verification procedure for submitted projects to confirm that the ensuing reductions of emissions by sources or enhancements of anthropogenic removals by sinks meet the relevant requirements of Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol and the joint implementation guidelines.
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The Technology Executive Committee, together with the Climate Technology Centre and Network, consistent with their respective functions, is mandated to facilitate the effective implementation of the Technology Mechanism, under the guidance of the COP. The TEC was established by the COP at its sixteenth session in decision 1/CP.16.
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The Adaptation Committee was established by the COP at its sixteenth session as part of the Cancun Agreements (decision 1/CP.16) to promote the implementation of enhanced action on adaptation in a coherent manner under the Convention, inter alia, through various functions. Its work was launched at COP 17.
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The mandate of the Standing Committee on Finance is to assist the COP in exercising its functions with respect to the financial mechanism of the Convention in terms of the following: improving coherence and coordination in the delivery of climate change financing; rationalization of the financial mechanism; mobilization of financial resources; and measurement, reporting and verification of support provided to developing country Parties. It was established by the COP at its sixteenth session by decision 1/CP.16. Its roles and functions were further defined and its composition and working modalities elaborated on at COP 17.
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The AFB supervises and manages the Adaptation Fund and is fully accountable to the CMP. The Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing country Parties that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The Adaptation Fund is financed by a 2 per cent share of the proceeds from certified emission reductions issued by the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism and from other sources of funding.
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The COP established the LEG, the membership of which is to be nominated by Parties, with the objective of supporting the preparation and implementation strategies of national adaptation programmes of action.
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The COP established the CGE with the objective of improving the process of the preparation of national communications from Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention.
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The UNFCCC secretariat provides organizational support and technical expertise to the UNFCCC negotiations and institutions and facilitates the flow of authoritative information on the implementation of the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol. This includes the development and effective implementation of innovative approaches to mitigate climate change and drive sustainable development.
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The United Nations serves as Depository for the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol. The secretariat is institutionally linked to the United Nations without being integrated into any programme and is administered under United Nations rules and regulations.
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The GEF is an operational entity of the financial mechanism of the Convention that provides financial support to the activities and projects of developing country Parties. The COP regularly provides guidance to the GEF.
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The GCF is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the Convention and is accountable to and functions under the guidance of the COP. It is governed by a Board comprising 24 members (with equal numbers from developed and developing country Parties) and is intended to be the main fund for global climate change finance in the context of mobilizing USD 100 billion by 2020. The GCF was established by the COP at its sixteenth session by decision 1/CP.16, designed throughout 2011 by a Transitional Committee and launched at COP 17 through decision 3/CP.17, including the governing instrument for the GCF.
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The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses, at regular intervals, the most recent scientific, technical and socioeconomic information produced worldwide, relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate-related data or parameters. The COP receives the outputs of the IPCC and uses IPCC data and information as a baseline on the state of knowledge on climate change in making science based decisions. For example, the Fifth Assessment Report of IPCC, which is due in 2014, will provide input into the COP review of the long term temperature goal and the work of the Ad hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action.
