Please use this shareable version responsibly. Consider sharing in a digital format before printing onto paper.

COP 29 Virtual platform terms of use

These are the Copyright and Terms of Use of the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement (the “secretariat”) under which you may use the platform for the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (“COP29") (the “Platform”). Please read this carefully. If you do not accept the Copyright and Terms of Use stated herein, do not use this Platform. By using this Platform, you are accepting to be bound by these Copyright and Terms of Use. These Copyright and Terms of Use apply to both the web and mobile versions of the Platform.  

Copyright 

I. Copyright 

1. All use of materials provided on this Platform must follow the Copyright and Terms of Use herein, including reproduction or transmission, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or the use of any information storage and retrieval system. Any exception to this requires permission in writing from the secretariat. 

2. The Platform is under the authority of and constitutes a property of the secretariat. Any use, copying or reproduction of the UNFCCC logo in any way requires the prior written authorization of the secretariat. Requests for permission should be sent to the Communications and Engagement division,  webmaster@unfccc.int 

3. All UNFCCC official texts, data and documents, including low resolution webcast transmissions, found on this Platform, are in the public domain and may be freely downloaded, copied and printed provided no change to the content is introduced, and the source is duly acknowledged. 

4. Copyright exists for all high-resolution broadcast quality footage and archival audio and video materials of UNFCCC conferences.  

5. In order to find out more about the UNFCCC licensing conditions, find more information here. 

II. Licensing 

  1. The secretariat licenses high-resolution, high quality and archival audio and video recordings (“Audiovisual Materials”) of the plenary sessions of the COP to the Convention, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, as well as the plenary sessions of their subsidiary bodies. 

  2. All secretariat audiovisual materials are not in the public domain: they are the property of the secretariat, and their copyright is owned by the secretariat.  

  3. For more information on licensing requirements and how to submit a request, please contact the Communications and Engagement division,  webmaster@unfccc.int 

Platform usage 

A. General 

1. Use of this Platform constitutes agreement with the Terms of Use contained herein (“the Terms of Use”). 

2. The information presented herein is for informative purposes only. Permission is granted to those who may choose to access the Platform (“Users”) and to download and copy the information, documents and materials (collectively, "Content") from the Platform for the User's personal, non-commercial use, without any right to resell or redistribute them or to compile or create derivative works therefrom, subject to the Terms of Use, and also subject to more specific restrictions that may apply to specific Content within this Platform. 

3. The secretariat administers this Platform. All Content on this Platform from the secretariat and all Users, whether registered or otherwise, are subject to the Terms of Use.  

4. Unless expressly stated otherwise, any findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in the Content on this Platform are those of the various United Nations staff members, consultants and advisers of the secretariat who prepared the work and do not necessarily represent the views of the secretariat, its Parties, the United Nations or its affiliates or its Member States. 

5. The secretariat reserves its exclusive right in its sole discretion to alter, limit or discontinue the Platform or any Content in any respect. The secretariat shall have no obligation to take the needs of any User into consideration in connection therewith. 

6. The secretariat reserves the right to deny in its sole discretion any User access to this Platform or any portion thereof without notice. 

7. No waiver by the secretariat of any provision of these Terms of Use shall be binding except as set forth in writing and signed by its duly authorised representative. 

8. Invitations to meetings sent to individuals are only for the original recipient of the invite. Under no circumstances shall the original recipient further share the meeting invitation with a third party.   

B. Indemnification of Liability and Disclaimer 

9. As a condition of use of this Platform, the User agrees to indemnify the secretariat and its affiliates from and against any and all actions, claims, losses, damages, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of the User’s use of the Platform, including, without limitation, any claims alleging facts that if true would constitute a breach by the User of the Terms of Use. If the User is dissatisfied with any Content on this Platform or with any of its Terms of Use, the User’s sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Platform. 

10. Content may contain inaccuracies or typographical errors. Content provided on this Platform is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. The secretariat specifically does not make any warranties or representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any such Content. The secretariat may periodically add, change, improve or update the Content on this Platform without notice. Under no circumstances shall the secretariat or its affiliates be liable for any loss, damage, liability or expense incurred or suffered that is claimed to have resulted from the use of this Platform and its Content, including, without limitation, any fault, error, omission, interruption or delay with respect thereto. The use of this Platform is at the User's sole risk. Under no circumstances, including but not limited to negligence, shall the secretariat or its affiliates be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, even if the secretariat has been advised of the possibility of such damages. 

11. The User specifically acknowledges and agrees that the secretariat is not liable for any conduct of any User. 

12. This Platform may contain advice, opinions and statements of various information providers. The secretariat does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided by any information provider, any User of this Platform or any other person or entity. Reliance upon any such advice, opinion, statement, or other information shall be at the User's own risk. Neither the secretariat, the United Nations nor its affiliates, nor any of their respective agents, employees, information providers or content providers, shall be liable to any User or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, alteration of or use of any Content herein, or for its timeliness or completeness, nor shall they be liable for any failure of performance, computer virus or communication line failure, regardless of cause, or for any damages resulting therefrom. 

13. This Platform may contain links and references to third-party web sites. The linked sites are not under the control of the secretariat, and the secretariat is not responsible for the content of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. These links are provided only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link or reference does not imply the endorsement of the linked site by the secretariat. If this Platform contains bulletin boards, chat rooms, access to mailing lists or other message or communication facilities (collectively, "Forums"), the User agrees to use the Forums only to send and receive messages and materials that are proper and related to the particular Forum. By way of example and not as a limitation, the User agrees that when using a Forum, he or she shall not do any of the following: 

(a) Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others; 

(b) Publish, post, distribute or disseminate any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent or unlawful material or information; 

(c) Upload or attach files that contain software or other material protected by intellectual property laws (or by rights of privacy and publicity) unless the User owns or controls the rights thereto or has received all consents therefor as may be required by law; 

(d) Upload or attach files that contain viruses, corrupted files or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another's computer; 

(e) Delete any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in any file that is uploaded; 

(f) Falsify the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded; 

(g) Advertise or offer to sell any goods or services, or conduct or forward surveys, contests or chain letters, or download any file posted by another user of a Forum that the User knows, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in such manner. 

14. The User acknowledges that all Forums and discussion groups are public and not private communications. Further, the User acknowledges that chats, postings, conferences, emails and other communications by other Users are not endorsed by the secretariat or the United Nations, and that such communications shall not be considered to have been reviewed, screened or approved by the secretariat or the United Nations. The secretariat reserves the right to remove, for any reason and without notice, any content of the Forums received from Users, including, without limitation, email and bulletin board postings.  

15. Pop-up advertisements: when visiting the Platform, your web browser may produce pop-up advertisements. These advertisements were most likely produced by other websites you visited or by third party software installed on your computer. The secretariat is not responsible for, nor approves, authorizes or endorses the content of the source, link or any pop-up messages that you have received in connection with that source or link, nor does the secretariat endorse or recommend products or services for which you may view a pop-up advertisement on your computer  or phone screen while visiting this Platform. 

16. Push notifications: If you are using the Platform, you may receive push notifications. These include notifications as to general meeting information, and notifications as to UNFCCC news alerts. You may in most cases opt out of receiving push notifications by going to your “Profile” and then changing those settings. 

C.  Country and area nomenclature 

17. The designations employed and the presentation of Content in the Platform do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the secretariat or its affiliates concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The term "country" as used in this Content also refers, as appropriate, to territories or areas. The designations "developed" and "developing" regions are intended for statistical and analytical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. 

D. Preservation of immunities 

18. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or a waiver of the privileges and immunities of the secretariat or the United Nations, which are specifically reserved. 

Privacy Policy 

I. Overview 

1. When visiting this Platform, your email which you provided to the secretariat through the UNFCCC Online Registration System will be used at the point of log in to confirm your identity. This privacy statement describes the UNFCCC’s policy concerning the gathering and sharing of the Users’ information through the Platform, and is complementary to the secretariat’s Privacy Policy that is available at: https://unfccc.int/this-site/terms-of-use. By visiting this Platform, you are accepting the practices described in the secretariat’s Privacy Policy. 

II. Anonymous Platform usage 

  1. By accessing this Platform, certain information about the User, such as Internet protocol (IP) addresses, navigation through the Platform, the software used and the time spent, along with other similar information, will be stored on servers of the web-hosting provider providing the Platform. These will not specifically identify the User. The information will be used internally only for web Platform traffic analysis. 
     
  2. This data will be also processed to keep the Platform secure and problem-free. The web hosting provider keeps logs of connections to this Platform so that it is possible to detect and prevent malicious activity. The logs contain the User’s IP address (which can reveal the User’s geographical location), the date and time of connection, the pages the User has visited in what order and for how long, and the browser the User is using (which can reveal the device used as well). This data is not used on an individual level unless the traffic looks like an attack, in which case the connection will blocked. However, if the User has registered with the secretariat in connection with any activity on the Platform, the information collected about the User’s normal Platform usage will be identifiable to such User. 

III. Collection and retention of personally identifiable information 

  1. All personal information will be purged from the Platform by the web-hosting provider following the conclusion of COP29. 

  2. Joining electronic discussion groups may mean that other participants of the discussion group (including non-UNFCCC employees) will see personal information that the User has volunteered.  For open discussion groups, this information will be public. 

IV. Disclosure of Information to Others 

  1. The secretariat does not disclose to third parties, the User’s personal information, combined personal and demographic information or information about the User’s use of the Platform (such as areas the User visits or the services the User accesses), except that: 

(a) Companies and individuals with which the secretariat works to provide this Platform will have access to such information. Examples may include hosting the web servers and analyzing data. These companies and individuals will have access to the User’s personal information solely as necessary to perform their functions. 

(b) The secretariat may disclose such information, subject to its privileges and immunities, if requested to do so by the secretariat’s internal governing and oversight bodies, including Parties, or if necessary, in the secretariat’s sole discretion to protect its property or rights, prevent a crime or protect the safety of Users or the public. 

V. The secretariat’s use of collected information 

Use of cookies 

  1. A cookie is a text file that is placed on the User’s hard drive by a web page server. Cookies are not used to run programs or deliver viruses to the User’s computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to the User’s computer and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to the User. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on the Platform. 

  2. By setting a cookie, this will save the User time. For example, the secretariat will remember the User the next time such User visits the Platform and therefore the secretariat will not have to ask questions that the User has already answered (like Username, address information and preferences). 

  3. Users are always free to decline cookies if the Users’ browser permits, although in that case the User may not be able to use certain features on the Platform and may be required to re-enter information more frequently to use certain services on the Platform. 

 

Personally identifiable information 

  1. The secretariat may use the personal information provided by the User to: 

  • Contact such User – either in response to a query or suggestion, or to mail newsletters, documents, publications, etc., and it also may provide the information to the secretariat’s divisions so they can contact the User as well; 

  • Retain the User’s online profile and preferences for future visits to the Platform; 

  • Help the User to quickly find relevant information based on such User’s interests, and help to create Platform content most relevant to the Users; 

  • Undertake statistical analysis. 

VI. What if I don’t want to provide personal information? 

  1. Providing personal information on the Platform is a prerequisite for using the Platform.  If the User chooses not to provide personal information, such User will not be able to use or access the Platform. 

VII. Opting out and updating your information 

  1. At any time, the User can correct, update, cancel or modify the provided information by returning to the web page where he or she first provided the information and contacting the focal point for that page/relevant secretariat’s division or, in certain instances such as registration, logging into the User’s account and changing the information there. 

  2. The User may elect to receive communications such as newsletters and other material from the secretariat. If so, the User will have the opportunity to stop receiving such communications at any time by logging into his or her account on the Platform and editing the User’s contact preferences or by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the emails. 

VIII. Security 

  1. The secretariat does not sell or share any personally identifiable information volunteered on the Platform to any third party without prior consent. The secretariat, however, shares some User information with its divisions and affiliates so that the whole UNFCCC family can respond to the User’s needs.  

  2. The secretariat employs a range of techniques and security measures based on best practices to protect the information maintained on its system from loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, the secretariat assumes no responsibility for the security of information. 

IX. Links to other sites – Disclaimer

  1. The Platform contains hypertext links to other sites external to the secretariat’s domain. The secretariat assumes no responsibility for those sites including the privacy practices or the content of such web sites. 

X. Notification of changes 

  1. If the secretariat decides to change its Privacy Policy, the secretariat will post those changes to this Platform so that Users are always aware of what information was collected and how it will be used. 

XI Contact us 

  1. If you, as the User, have objections, questions or concerns regarding your information being used to verify your identity at the point of log in to this Platform, please contact the secretariat at: COP-Platform-team@unfccc.int . 

XII. Code of Conduct  

  1. By visiting the Platform, the User accepts to be bound by the UNFCCC Code of Conduct for conferences, meetings and events, which is found here.