If that is your first time tuning in to the United Nations (UN) Local weather Change Convention or COP30, you may be a little bit misplaced.
A gathering amongst world leaders on fixing the local weather disaster sounds easy sufficient. That’s, till you throw in a bunch of acronyms like NDCs, NAPs, and GST, together with technical phrases like carbon markets, local weather debt, and concessional finance — all with an additional aspect of an entire lot of politics.
As world leaders navigate the two-week-long convention’s sophisticated panorama, everybody else has to make sense of no matter it’s that’s popping out of their mouths.
Right here’s a listing of phrases it is advisable to know should you’re tuning in to COP — which you in all probability ought to be doing should you care something about our warming world.
United Nations Framework Conference on Local weather Change (UNFCCC) – It’s a treaty adopted in 1992 to halt local weather change. It has since been joined by 198 international locations, and is the mum or dad treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and 2015 Paris Settlement. The last word objective of all these agreements is to regulate greenhouse gasoline emissions in order that we don’t find yourself irrevocably altering our local weather to a harmful diploma.
Convention of the Events (COP) – As a generic time period, it refers back to the decision-making physique composed of the international locations who agreed on a global treaty or conference. Within the context of COP30, it’s an annual summit of nations who signed the UNFCCC, the place they determine implement their commitments to deal with local weather change. In the course of the COP, international locations additionally meet to debate the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Settlement in conferences generally known as the CMP and CMA, respectively.
1.5ºC – A tipping level within the Earth’s temperature that triggers irreversible and self-reinforcing modifications within the atmosphere, as recognized by scientists. These modifications embrace the Amazon rainforest turning right into a savanna, melting ice sheets, or dying coral reefs, amongst others.
Motion Agenda – A platform for civil society to hitch voluntary initiatives that can speed up emissions discount, increase local weather resilience, and assist the transition to sustainable economies. It turned part of the COP’s common program in COP21 again in 2015 as an initiative to develop past authorities negotiations and embrace individuals who don’t negotiate through the COP however act to place agreements into follow, like companies, traders, and native governments.
Adaptation – It refers to preparations made for a hotter world with extra warmth waves and better sea ranges. They’ll embrace methods like planting timber for shade or safeguarding provides in opposition to excessive climate disruptions. Funding for these methods is named adaptation finance. (EXPLAINER: A information to UN local weather jargon, from NDCs to ‘unabated’ emissions)
Baku Finance Aim – It’s a dedication to channel $1.3 trillion to creating international locations annually that can assist them implement local weather plans. To attain this objective, developed international locations should take the lead in mobilizing not less than $300 billion per yr for creating international locations by 2035. The blueprint to attain that is referred to as the Baku to Belém Roadmap.
Belem Motion Mechanism for a International Simply Transition (BAM) – It’s a proposed mechanism that can define how governments and the non-public sector can put folks on the coronary heart of nationwide and sectoral transitions to renewable vitality. This contains job creation, employee coaching, and techniques to diversify industries into local weather planning and funding.
Carbon credit – The carbon crediting mechanism was established beneath the Paris Settlement. When international locations or firms scale back greenhouse gasoline emissions, they earn carbon credit that they will promote to different firms. Shopping for these credit permits firms to adjust to their very own emissions discount obligations or meet net-zero targets. The buying and selling programs wherein carbon credit are offered and acquired are referred to as carbon markets.
Frequent however differentiated tasks (CBDR) – Primarily based on a “polluter pays” precept, this concept says that rich international locations ought to do extra to rein in local weather change as a result of they contributed probably the most emissions traditionally to the environment.
Local weather debt – It’s the sum of damages attributable to emissions from developed international locations on creating international locations who don’t emit as a lot but are probably the most susceptible to the impacts of local weather change.
Local weather finance – Funding offered by governments, improvement banks, non-public traders, and philanthropies to assist international locations decrease greenhouse gasoline emissions or adapt to local weather impacts. These embrace renewable vitality initiatives or safety from floods, amongst others. (READ: What’s local weather finance and why does it matter?)
Champions – An individual appearing as a liaison between governments and civil society on behalf of the COP president, particularly working to contain companies, communities, monetary establishments, and different actors who don’t negotiate local weather agreements however are important for placing them into follow. There are two varieties: high-level champions and youth champions. Every champion serves a time period of two years.
Local weather justice – An concept recognizing that those that contribute least to carbon emissions are paying the very best value. It means holding accountable international locations, companies, and those who drive the local weather disaster.
Concessional finance – It refers to under market price finance offered by main monetary establishments, like improvement banks and multilateral funds, to creating international locations to speed up improvement or local weather aims.
COP Truce – It’s an attraction to nations to cease navy operations through the month of the COP.
Cowl resolution – A press release outlining the high-level political agreements on key points. It embodies what the summit has achieved and the broad targets that each nation has agreed to pursue. (EXPLAINER: What occurs at a COP local weather summit?)
Decarbonization – The course of of lowering carbon emissions.
International Aim on Adaptation (GGA) – It was established in Article 7 of the Paris Settlement as a objective to reinforce a rustic’s capability to adapt, strengthen resilience, and scale back vulnerability to local weather change. It offers a system for international locations to trace their adaptation progress and urge them to behave on managing local weather change dangers.
International stocktake (GST) – It’s a periodical evaluation of the collective progress in attaining the Paris Settlement. It takes place each 5 years, with the first-ever stocktake concluded at COP28 in 2023. This evaluation informs the local weather motion plans of each nation.
Inexperienced Local weather Fund – A fund established beneath the Paris Settlement to distribute $100 billion in annual local weather finance from rich nations to assist creating international locations fund the vitality transition and initiatives for adapting to a hotter world.
Excessive-Degree Phase – A half of the COP the place nationwide leaders give back-to-back speeches within the venue’s important plenary corridor.
Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change (IPCC) – It’s the UNFCCC’s important scientific physique, the place scientists from the international locations who signed the treaty work collectively to launch reviews each six to seven years detailing world scientific consensus on local weather science.
Simply transition – A shift from fossil fuels, like coal into renewable vitality sources, that appears after those that can be displaced by the vitality transition, particularly employees. (EXPLAINER: What’s simply vitality transition?)
Kyoto Protocol – A treaty that entered into drive in 2005 the place industrialized international locations agreed to cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions in accordance with agreed particular person targets. It solely binds developed international locations, putting a heavier burden on them as a result of they’re largely liable for the excessive ranges of those emissions within the environment.
Loss and Injury Fund – Loss and injury refers back to the unfavorable penalties of local weather change, like excessive climate occasions, rising sea ranges, extended heatwaves, modifications in ocean situations, and injury to agriculture. They nonetheless happen regardless of mitigation and adaptation efforts, so COP28 authorized a fund that can present monetary help to nations most susceptible and impacted by these dangerous results. The Philippines is the host of this fund’s board.
Mitigation – It refers back to the discount of greenhouse gasoline emissions to sluggish, if not halt, world warming. It’s the important focus on the planet’s transition away from fossil fuels to renewable vitality sources.
Montreal Protocol – It’s an worldwide settlement that regulates the manufacturing and consumption of almost 100 man-made chemical compounds that hurt and deplete the ozone layer.
Nationwide Adaptation Plans (NAPs) – They’re methods developed by international locations, notably creating nations, to arrange for and reply to the impacts of local weather change, comparable to droughts, floods, and sea stage rise. Their important targets are to cut back local weather vulnerability, combine adaptation into public insurance policies, plan actions based mostly on scientific knowledge, and entry worldwide local weather finance.
Nationally Decided Contributions (NDCs) – These are pledges by every nation on their goal quantity for lowering greenhouse gasoline emissions and their plans to adapt to the impacts of local weather change. They’re submitted each 5 years to the UNFCCC secretariat, and should symbolize a development in comparison with the earlier NDC, reflecting a rustic’s highest attainable ambition.
Web zero – It means releasing no extra emissions than might be recaptured by expertise, tree-planting, or different means. Briefly, reaching internet zero means greenhouse gasoline concentrations cease growing.
Negotiating group – International locations sending delegations are distributed into teams or blocs that work collectively to symbolize their widespread pursuits in worldwide local weather change negotiations. The Philippines is a part of the Group of 77 + China — the most important alliance of creating international locations that promotes the pursuits of the International South — and co-founded (however ultimately left) the Like-Minded Creating International locations bloc.
New Collective Quantified Aim (NCQG) – It’s a world local weather finance objective set from a ground of $100 billion per yr. In COP29 in 2024, they got here up with a $300-billion annual goal, referred to as the Baku Finance Aim.
Paris Settlement – A legally binding worldwide treaty enacted in 2016 that goals to maintain the rise in world common temperature to 2ºC — however ideally 1.5ºC — above ranges earlier than the Industrial Revolution. Underneath the settlement, signatory international locations are anticipated to current their motion plan to align with these targets. It additionally offers a framework for creating international locations to obtain assist from developed international locations. (READ: The place are we now on the Paris Settlement, a decade after it was adopted?)
Paris Rulebook – These are the implementation tips for the Paris Settlement, laying out the instruments and processes for them to completely, pretty, and successfully comply with the local weather plans outlined of their NDCs. It was accomplished in COP29.
Phaseout – A gradual discount within the manufacturing and use of fossil fuels.
Secretariat – The UNFCCC secretariat, additionally known as UN Local weather Change, is the UN entity tasked with supporting the world’s response to local weather change. It organizes and helps the COP and different negotiations, offers technical experience and opinions local weather change data reported in these negotiations, and maintains a registry for NDCs.
Small Island Creating States (SIDS) – They’re a distinct group of 39 states and 18 affiliate members of UN regional commissions positioned within the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea. They face distinctive social, financial, and environmental vulnerabilities due to their distant geography, comparable to excessive import and export prices for items, irregular worldwide site visitors volumes, and a slender useful resource base.
The Troika – The host international locations of COP28, COP29, and COP30, who mentioned they have been collaborating to make sure continuity in organizing the annual UN local weather talks. All three international locations have economies that depend on fossil fuels.
UAE Consensus – It’s a response to the outcomes of the primary world stocktake, setting requirements for a simply transition and targets like tripling renewable vitality, halting deforestation, and doubling vitality effectivity by 2030.
Unabated emissions – Describes carbon air pollution not being captured by new applied sciences comparable to carbon seize and storage. – Rappler.com
