Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) have to be admitted by the Conference of the Parties (COP) as observer organizations to the UNFCCC process before they can send representatives to attend any sessions or meetings of the UNFCCC. The chart depicts the cummulative numbers of admitted observer organizations by COP. Find out more about the admission process here 

The chart shows the share of admitted observer organizations by United Nations regional group according to the organizations' headquarters.

In the UNFCCC process admitted NGOs have formed themselves into loose groups with diverse but broadly clustered interests or perspectives, called constituencies. The nine constituencies are: Business and industry NGOs (BINGO), Environmental NGOs (ENGO), Farmers, Indigenous peoples organizations (IPO), Local government and municipal authorities (LGMA), Research and independent NGOs (RINGO), Trade union NGOs (TUNGO), Women and Gender (WGC), and Youth NGOs (YOUNGO). Find out more about constituencies in the UNFCCC process here.