Civil society and the Climate Change Process

Civil society and the Climate Change Process

Admission
Attending sessions
Participating effectively
Statistics

Note: For admitted organizations that wish to change their contact details (including a change in Designated Contact Point) please complete a Contact Details Form (for already admitted organizations), available in the table below under the section on Admission.

Please be aware of the different systems that are used by observer organizations for admission, registration and side event and exhibit applications respectively.

• Online Registration System (ORS)
Function: For admitted IGOs and NGOs to nominate and confirm their representatives for UNFCCC sessions by the respective nomination and confirmation deadline (stated in the notification/information note for the sessions).
Logging in to ORS: If you have already created an account in ORS, the login and password remain valid when you use the system to nominate for future sessions.
User Manual: pdf-icon https://onlinereg.unfccc.int/onlinereg/public/UNFCCC_ORS_User_Manual-Observer_Organisations.pdf

• Side Events and Exhibits Online Registration System (SEORS)
Function: For admitted IGOs and NGOs to apply for side events and exhibits.
Logging in to SEORS: All applicants must register for a new personal account in SEORS for each session. Your user name and password from the previous sessions do not work.
FAQs Side Events and Exhibits: pdf-icon https://seors.unfccc.int/seors/pdf/side_events_faq.pdf

• Online Admission System (OAS)
Function: For new organizations to apply for admission as observers to the UNFCCC process. Please note that already admitted observer organizations are not required to use this system as, in accordance with FCCC/CP/1995/7, paragraph 22, organizations, once admitted, are eligible to attend future UNFCCC sessions and do not need to reapply for admission.
Logging in to OAS: Applying organizations must create a new account in order to use the system. Following the review cycle, eligible organizations that are formally admitted by the COP will not be required to use the system again.
User Manual: pdf-icon https://oas.unfccc.int/oas/UNFCCC_Online_Admission_System_User_Manual.pdf

Information for COP 21/CMP 11

Observer registration for COP 21/CMP 11
Online Registration System (ORS) is now open for admitted NGOs to nominate their representatives as announced in the information note. The nomination deadline is Monday, 22 June 2015 at midnight Central European Time (CET).

Only the admitted organizations that have nominated their representatives by the above deadline will be able to attend COP 21/CMP 11. The level of attendance will be managed in accordance with the capacity and services of the premises and taking into consideration security and safety matters. The secretariat will inform all those organizations that met the above deadline the managed level of attendance of each organization by Sunday, 28 June 2015.

From Monday, 29 June 2015 until Thursday, 26 November 2015 at midnight CET, organizations that have submitted their nominations in time will be able to confirm them in accordance with the managed number provided by the secretariat.

Please note that the deadlines are strictly followed as announced in the pdf-icon information note issued on 7 July 2014.

The organizations that missed this deadline or that are not eligible for admission, please review the section "Attendance" below.

Applications for Side events and Exhibits for COP 21/CMP 11
Side events and exhibits online registration system (SEORS) for COP 21/CMP 11 will be open at 9 a.m. Central European Time (CET) on Tuesday, 30 June 2015 and closes at 5 p.m. CET on Friday, 3 July 2015. Selection process for the application will take a few months. Applicants will be notified whether their application would be successful by the beginning of October 2015.

Admission of new organizations as observers in time for COP 21/CMP 11
The deadline for applications by new organizations for admission as observers in time for COP 21/CMP 11 in 2015 was 31 August 2014. Organizations who applied by the deadline were sent an acknowledgement of receipt message in the Online Admission System (OAS) communication function by 31 December 2014. Should you not receive such an acknowledgement by that time, please contact us using the communication function in your OAS account. For more information, please review the section “Admission” below.

Please note that the UNFCCC admission process is completely independent from any status of an organization with ECOSOC, or other UN organizations and agencies.

Admission

The secretariat launched the Online Admission System (OAS) in May 2014. Any organization wishing to apply for admission is now required to submit their application via OAS. The secretariat will no longer accept hard copy or emailed applications.

https://oas.unfccc.int/

Please refer to the dates and deadlines section on the right
of the page for relevant admission deadline dates.

Admission as an observer organization to the UNFCCC is a one-off process. In accordance with FCCC/CP/1995/7, paragraph 22, organizations, once admitted, are eligible to attend future UNFCCC sessions and do not need to reapply for admission.

Article 7, paragraph 6, of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change provides for the admission of non-governmental organizations to sessions of the Convention bodies as observers. New applicant organizations are formally admitted by the Conference of the Parties following the successful completion of the admission process. Participation at sessions in between the SB sessions and the COP is limited to those organizations that have been admitted or provisionally admitted at previous SB sessions and COPs.

To apply for admission, organizations must submit a set of required documents to the secretariat. The list of required documents is available below under Standard Admission Process.

The deadline for admission is 31 August the year before the admitting COP (e.g. the deadline for admission for COP 21/CMP 11 in 2015 is 31 August 2014). Please refer to the pdf-icon information note on revised deadlines for admission for more details.

Admitted observer organizations should contact the secretariat whenever there is a change in their contact details by completing a Contact Details Form for already admitted organizations (see below) and sending it to cool@unfccc.int. Only forms sent electronically are acceptable (it is not necessary to send a hard copy version of the form).

Standard admission process/list of required documents for applying for admission pdf-icon

English (145 kB) pdf-icon

Español (146 kB) pdf-icon

Français (158 kB)

Mandate for admission: Article 7, paragraph 6 pdf-icon

English

Español

Français

Single admission process for COP and CMP: Decision 36/CMP.1 (paragraph 2c) pdf-icon

English

Español

Français

Contact Details Form
Applying organizations: pdf-icon English (237 kB) Français (236 kB)
Already admitted organizations: English (239 kB) Français (236 kB)

List of admitted organizations

Attending sessions

Non-governmental organizations that have been admitted to the UNFCCC process may attend sessions of the Convention bodies as observers provided that they use the Online Registration System (see below) to nominate and confirm representatives by the set deadlines.

Notification: The secretariat’s usual practice is to post official notifications or information notes for upcoming sessions on the UNFCCC website three months prior to the start date of the sessions. It is the responsibility of the admitted observer organization to check for notification/information note updates. You can find current information on the Notifications page of the UNFCCC website.

Registration: The UNFCCC Online Registration System (ORS) has been in place for all sessions since 2010. ORS will open upon issuance of the notification/information note which contains the nomination and confirmation deadlines. Designated Contact Points (DCP) of admitted NGOs should use the system to nominate and confirm representatives by the given deadlines. Late nomination and confirmation of representatives after these deadlines will not be accepted.

For further information and guidance on the nominations and confirmation process and using the system, please refer to the links below.

Online Registration System homepage:
https://onlinereg.unfccc.int/.

Online Registration System User Manual: https://onlinereg.unfccc.int/onlinereg/public/UNFCCC_ORS_User_Manual-Observer_Organisations.pdf

For technical assistance when using the system, please contact onlinereg@unfccc.int.

Attendance: Admission of your organization is not the only way to attend sessions. If your organization is not admitted and you have missed the deadline for admission or if your organization is not eligible for admission, the representatives of your organization might be nominated and confirmed to attend sessions by already admitted observer organizations who agree for them to be part of their delegation. Visibility will be given to the name of the nominating organization on the official list of participants. The contact details of the admitted observer organizations are available here.

Virtual participation: It is also possible to follow the proceedings of UNFCCC sessions via webcast. Please check the Meetings page of the UNFCCC website for the current session and click on webcasts.

Participating effectively

Draft rules of procedure

Guidelines for Participation (191 kB)

Use of cameras and audio/video recording devices (118 kB)

UN Security guidelines (129 kB)

Submissions from observer organizations

Providing input to the project-based mechanisms [CDM, JI]. public awareness, education and training [CC:iNet] or on technolgy transfer [TT:CLEAR]

Participating in workshops pdf-icon

English (21 kB) pdf-icon

Français (69 kB)

Constituencies and you (version as of May 2014) pdf-icon

English (93 kB) pdf-icon

Español (28 kB) pdf-icon

Français (83 kB)

Constituency contacts (134 kB)

Subscribing to the UNFCCC newsletter

Keep your finger on the pulse: Community tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr allow virtual participation during and between UNFCCC sessions. All links may be found at http://unfccc.int and include the following:

Twitter: The UNFCCC secretariat tweets from its Twitter account @UN_ClimateTalks, and its Executive Secretary, Ms. Christiana Figueres, from @CFigueres.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/UNclimatechange
YouTube: www.youtube.com/climateconference
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/unfccc

For Side Events and Exhibits please refer to https://seors.unfccc.int/seors/ and contact seors@unfccc.int for further enquiries

For press briefings contact press@unfccc.int

Statistics

Admission	Cumulative admissions of observer organizations COP 1 - 20 (51 kB)
Constituency affiliation	NGO constituency affiliation (32 kB) (as of December 2013)
Participation	Historical participation breakdown by category of participants COP 3-20 (as of December 2014) (95 kB) Nominations, confirmations and badges issued (229 kB) (UNFCCC sessions 2011-2014) Breakdown of attendance of NGOs by constituency (COP 20/CMP 10) (31 kB)
Side Events	Side Event organizers and co-organizers compared to SE slots (177 kB) COP 20/CMP 10 side event applications - constituency breakdown
Exhibits	Number of exhibits at COPs/CMPs (261 kB) COP 20/CMP 10 exhibit applications - constituency breakdown

For further information, please contact cool@unfccc.int.

NEGOTIATIONS

FOCUS

PROCESS

KEY STEPS