Guide for Youth by Youth

Editor: Beniamin Strzelecki, Poland

Contributors:

• Marie-Claire Graf, Switzerland, Swiss Youth for Climate
• Elizabeth Gulugulu, African Youth Initiative on Climate Change Zimbabwe
• Andréanne Brazeau, Canada, Université de Sherbrooke
• Bas Tuenter, The Netherlands, Radboud University
• Heeta Lakhani, India, 11th World Wilderness Congress
• Seyifunmi Adebote, International Climate Change Development Initiative
• Clara von Glasow, Germany, Klimadelegation/Unite for Climate Action

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Important acronyms
• What is COP?
• Logistics
• Venue
• Events
• YOUNGO
• YOUNGO at COP
• Making the most out of COP
• FAQ
• Sources

Preface

In December 2019, I had the privilege to attend my first UNFCCC COP in Madrid, Spain. When I went to the conference, I was not aware how unprepared I was to join. Despite having an understanding of developments in climate policies in the last few decades and being a member of YOUNGO for a few months, I had little understanding of how COP negotiations look like on the ground. One could criticise my attitude as irresponsible and contributing to “climate tourism” that happens with many people going to COP every year. This phenomenon has a tremendous impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions from air travel.

Today, I am aware that when attending COP, it is important to have a strategy and a goal, to make the time spent at COP productive and meaningful. I also have a much better understanding of how a COP looks like and what the contribution is that youth like myself can achieve. This would not be the case if I did not go to Madrid in the first place.

My experience prompted me to write this Guide for future first-time youth participants at the UNFCCC COP so that their participation in the summit will be more informed, target-oriented and productive. By no means it is a comprehensive or complete guide so I hope that over time it will gather more input from the community. In particular, there is much more to be said about specific tracks of negotiations, their progress and the participation of youth in them. Most importantly, I would like to thank all YOUNGO members who contributed to drafting this document (listed on the first page). The wealth of advice available here would not be possible without them.

Beniamin Strzelecki

Remind leaders the #WorldIsWatching by scanning the QR code and trying the #EyesOnCOP26 filter

Important acronyms

• APA – Body governing the Paris Agreement (Ad-hoc Working group on the Paris Agreement)
• CAN – Climate Action Network
• CMA – Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement
• CMP – Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol
• COP – Conference of the Parties (to any UN convention, here used for the UNFCCC COP)
• COY – Conference of Youth
• GCF – Green Climate Fund
• GEF – Global Environment Facility
• GHG – greenhouse gases
• IGO – intergovernmental organisation
• IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• LDCs – Least Developed Countries
• NDCs – Nationally Determined Contributions
• NGO – non-governmental organisation
• SBI – Subsidiary Body for Implementation
• SBSTA – Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice
• SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals
• SIDS – Small Island Developing States
• UNFCCC – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Glossary with further climate change acronyms and terms

What is COP?

About the UNFCCC

The United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is one of three conventions adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Its sister Rio Conventions are the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). These three are intrinsically linked. The ultimate aim of the UNFCCC is preventing “dangerous” human interference with the climate system. Countries that signed the Convention are called Parties.

The UNFCCC:

• Recognises a threat posed by anthropogenic climate change;
• Sets a goal of stabilising concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere;
• Asks developed countries to lead climate action and provide financial assistance to developing countries;
• Requires Parties to submit annual inventories of their greenhouse gases emissions.

Permanent bodies

The UNFCCC Secretariat is the main body within the Convention and it is responsible for carrying out the decisions made by the COP and supporting organizational tasks. They also liaise with Focal Points from the official constituencies. The Secretariat is headed by the Executive Secretary (ES). The ES cannot write or amend the text of the decisions but they may encourage constructive dialogue and suggest solutions.

Additionally, the Convention established two permanent bodies: the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). While SBSTA focuses on reviewing scientific reports and delivering information to the Parties, SBI is concerned with topics related to bringing decisions of the UNFCCC to life.

According to the UNFCCC, countries are divided into three main groups:

• Annex I – industrialized countries that were members of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) in 1992, plus countries with economies in transition (the EIT Parties), including the Russian Federation, the Baltic States, and several Central and Eastern European States.
• Annex II – members of Annex I, excluding the EIT Parties. They are required to provide financial resources to enable developing countries to undertake emissions reduction.
• Non-Annex I – developing countries.

Full text of the Convention can be found here. As of 2021, 197 countries are Parties to the UNFCCC. The list of countries belonging to respective groups can be found here.

Further information about the UNFCCC

Youth at COP25 had a message for the world: #WeAreAction

What is COP

The acronym COP stands for “Conference of the Parties”. COP is a (normally) annual gathering of all countries that are Parties to the UNFCCC. In fact, the name COP refers to meetings of other UN conventions as well, such as UNCCD and UNCBD. In this guide, the name COP will be used exclusively for the UNFCCC COP but one should be aware of the other meanings as well. For the UNFCCC, COP (normally) takes place in November/December.

During COP, heads of states, ministers and technical teams meet to negotiate international climate action commitments. It is also a space for countries to present their accomplishments, for civil society to advocate for greater ambitions and for institutions to exhibit their findings or services.

One of the ways to get access to up-to-date information about COP during the conference is downloading the official app of the UNFCCC.

Further information about COP

Agenda of COP

COP usually lasts two weeks. The weekend preceding the official opening is a time when countries meet in their regional groups or hold first informal negotiations. The first day of the COP is the opening plenary when the agenda is set and Parties deliver their interventions. The following week is focused on negotiations between technical teams. In the second week, ministerial teams arrive and negotiations are handed over to them. Ministers and heads of states come at different stages of the conference but their most important meetings take place during the second week. On the last day, there is a closing plenary where the final decisions are adopted. During most COPs, final decisions may be adopted one or even two days after the planned ending of the event. The agenda for COP26 can be found here. An overview schedule is saved here.

Intersessionals and pre-COP

Delegations of Parties also meet on other occasions throughout the year. Two main events are the intersessionals (Subsidiary Body or SB) and pre-COP. The term “Intersessionals” refers to meetings of the subsidiary bodies (SBI and SBSTA) where technical topics are negotiated. Intersessionals take place in May/June in Bonn, Germany, which is where the UNFCCC office is located. Pre-COP usually takes place a few weeks before COP and it is an opportunity for the Parties to set ground for the upcoming negotiations.

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol was the first binding agreement under the UNFCCC. Adopted in 1997, it required Parties to decrease their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with their commitments. The Protocol is based on the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility” (CBDR) – it binds only developed countries. The first commitment period set a goal of 5 % global emission reduction compared to 1990 levels over five years (2008-2012).

One of the main nuances established under the Kyoto Protocol are flexible market mechanisms, most prominently the Clean Development Mechanism. These arrangements allow countries to achieve their emissions reduction targets by financing projects in other countries (most often in developing states).

The Doha Amendment was adopted in 2012 and it introduced the second commitment period. In the Amendment, Parties committed to reduce their GHG emissions by 18 % below 1990 levels over eight years (2013-2020). However, the composition of Parties in the second period is different from the one in the first one.

The Kyoto Protocol’s full text can be found here. At COP, events that discuss topics related to the Kyoto Protocol are marked as CMP.

Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement (PA) is the second binding agreement under the UNFCCC. Adopted in 2015, it requires the Parties to submit their plans for climate action in the form of nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Countries should submit their NDCs every five years; they will subsequently be reviewed through a process called global stocktake. PA aims to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue further efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees. Projections based on the first batch of submitted NDCs estimate that current commitments will cause warming of around 3.4 °C. Additional arrangements of PA include provision of finance to developing countries through the Green Climate Fund and the establishment of market mechanisms that allow countries to trade their emission reductions (Article 6).

PA entered into force in November 2016 when countries representing more than 55 % of global GHG emissions ratified it. The implementation period started on January 1st, 2020 but not all of the conditions of its implementation have been agreed upon. From 2015 to 2019, Parties negotiated the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement (also called “the rulebook”), that were adopted at COP24 in Katowice.

The Paris Agreement’s full text can be found here. At COP, events that discuss topics related to PA are marked as CMA.

For more elaborate information about the UNFCCC, its history, relevant conventions and main topics of concern, check the UNFCCC eHandbook.

Further information about the Paris Agreement.

Important Stakeholders

Every year, COP gathers the most important decision-makers from around the world, including heads of states and non party stakeholders like businesses, intergovernmental agencies, Indigenous peoples or youth. Below is a list of a few that are particularly important to the negotiations and who are often allies for youth. Listed individuals are as of October 2021.

1. UNFCCC Executive Secretary – Patricia Espinosa, Mexico – Heards the UNFCCC, supports the negotiations, provides advisory to parties, advocates for rising ambitions.
2. COP President – Alok Sharma, United Kingdom – Facilitates proceedings of the conference on behalf of the host country.
3. High-Level Climate Action Champions – Advocate for rising ambitions from the current and upcoming COP presidency - Nigel Topping (UK) and Gonzalo Muñoz (Chile)
4. Constituencies - There are several “Constituencies” to the UNFCCC. These are loose groups of NGOs with diverse but clustered interests or perspectives. These groups are not parties to the agreement but may have official roles in the negotiations, such as making interventions during sessions or providing written input, called submissions, on views and information on various issues under negotiation. These include:

• BINGO - Business and Industry NGOs
• ENGO - Environmental NGOs
• Farmers - Farmers and agriculture NGOs
• IPO - Indigenous peoples organizations
• LGMA - Local government and municipal authorities
• RINGO - Research and independent NGOs
• TUNGO - Trade union NGOs
• WGC - Women and gender constituency
• YOUNGO - Youth NGOs

In addition, the UNFCCC secretariat also recognizes the following groups as informal NGO groups:

• Faith Based Organizations (FBOs)
• Education and Capacity Building and Outreach NGOs (ECONGO)
• Parliamentarians

Logistics

Transportation

Getting to the host city → Logistics guide by COP26 presidency

Airplanes tend to be the easiest and the fastest mode of transportation. However, increasing awareness about the environmental impact of the aviation industry has inspired many participants to travel to COP by other means, such as buses, trains and even boats. Carbon offsets are also increasingly used by COP participants when no alternative to flying is available.

Getting to the venue

Oftentimes, the host city provides public transportation cards to the participants or arranges buses to the venue. Alternatives are car rental or taxis/Uber, but these are likely to be much more costly options.

Accommodation

The UNFCCC COP is the largest UN conference and thousands of people from around the world come to the host city to take part. The event may put a big strain on the local hospitality base; it is therefore encouraged to book accommodation as early as possible. It is usually cheaper to make reservations for groups, so it is best to find colleagues for sharing an apartment or rooms. The host government usually hires a company that assists participants with booking accommodation, but their services and offers are much more pricey than if one looks for a space on popular booking websites.

When choosing a place to stay, it is worth considering the distance to the venue and/or access to public transportation.

Food

Although some pavilions and side events at COP will offer snacks, food is generally not available for free in the venue. In fact, restaurants, bistros and food trucks serving food in the venue are likely to be quite expensive. The most economically feasible option is to bring a packed lunch prepared at home. Sessions usually end around 6:00-7:00 PM, so dinner can be cooked at the participant’s rental location or bought in the city. However, one should be careful because security does not always allow participants to bring their own food inside the venue.

Badges

Venue

Configuration of the venue differs from COP to COP so distinctions made below (especially between Green Zone and Blue Zone) may not necessarily hold true at all of the conferences. Map of the venue can be found on the UNFCCC website and in the official app.

Green Zone

The Green Zone is the publicly available area at COP – entry there does not require accreditation. This space has many different functions. Firstly, it is a place where the local community can learn more about COP, the UNFCCC and climate change. There are numerous activities for children, youth and adults. Secondly, it is a place where work of local and global climate activists is showcased. Lastly, some of the events that did not secure a venue in the Blue Zone take place there.

Blue Zone

The Blue Zone is the part of the venue that requires a badge to enter. This is where all of the major events take place.

Plenary Halls

These are the biggest rooms in the venue. They have set seats for all the Parties, observer constituencies and other UN agencies. Plenary Halls host opening and closing sessions as well as some events of particular importance (ie. presentation of IPCC reports) and popularity (ie. keynote by Al Gore).

Party and Observers Pavilions

Pavilions take up the largest part of the venue space, and they are managed by Parties, NGOs and IGOs. These spaces host side events and often have areas for meetings. They are a great place to engage with representatives of countries and organizations.

Side Events Rooms

Inside the venue, there are a few auditorium-style rooms for side events (roundtables, discussions, etc.). Official side events happen there throughout the day. These rooms may also be used for constituency meetings.

Press Conference Rooms

Press conference rooms are where delegations, constituencies and organisations deliver their statements to the media. They are equipped with podiums and setup that allows for broadcasting the press conference.

Meeting Rooms

Meeting rooms vary in size and sitting arrangement. This is where negotiations, negotiation groups meetings, briefings for civil society, roundtables and other meetings take place. Moreover, countries and observers can request a meeting room for their purpose.

Offices

Different groups have spaces assigned across the venue – the UNFCCC Secretariat, COP Presidency, regional groups and constituencies. Access to the offices is restricted to members of these groups.

Events

Party badges allow for entrance to all of the events except for meetings of the negotiation groups to which a given country does not belong. Other badges grant access to almost all events, except otherwise stated, such as some high-level segments or “inf inf” (explained below).

Plenary Meetings

Plenaries include opening and closing ceremonies of COP, CMA, CMP, SBI and SBSTA. They take place on the first and last day of the conference. There are two main elements of these events: high-level segments, where heads of states and ministers deliver their interventions, and adoption of agenda/decisions, which is a much more lengthy and very technical process. For observers, entrance to high-level segments may often be limited to two/three tickets per constituency.

Negotiations

Negotiations are where all the developments on climate policies are happening. During these meetings, Parties (and sometimes observers) take the floor to present their positions and offer solutions to the given challenges. They also draft decisions and decide on their adoption. In the schedule, negotiations are described as “contact groups” or “informal consultations”. Most of the negotiations continue over several days with one or two-hour session every day. Depending on the convention or the body that the negotiations refer to, they will be marked as COP, CMA, CMP, SBI, etc. Parties have a right to refuse observers’ right to be in the negotiations room but it rarely happens.

In order to avoid all 197 Parties taking the floor during the negotiations (which would be very time-consuming) and making individual remarks, Parties usually decide upon their common positions in their negotiation groups (such as the European Union, the African Group or the Small Island Developing States) and designated countries deliver statements on behalf of these groups. Party groupings and their members can be found here.

Characteristics of negotiations:

• Consensus-based decision-making
• Groups-coordinated decisions
• Rotating presidency and facilitation of negotiation tracks and COP at large
• “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” – finalising decisions on complex topics tends to be postponed because of inability to fully work out the problems
• Sometimes, agreements reached by technical teams are changed by ministers in the last few days of the conference

Informal informal

“Informal consultations” are in reality quite a structured process. Hence, moderators often reserve meeting rooms for “informal informal” (“inf inf”) outside of the scheduled negotiation hours and then Parties are free to discuss different aspects of the issue directly between each other. Most of the time, these are closed to observers.

Presidency Events and High-Level Events

These are events related to topics that the COP Presidency or other high-level actors want to put particular emphasis on, for example oceans, sustainable finance or youth issues. Ministers or other high-level speakers often take part in these events.

Side Events

Side events are organised by the Parties, IGOs, NGOs, research institutions, constituencies or other groups and they usually take place in the form of a lecture or a panel. Sometimes they serve as educational events for the general public while some of them are specific technical events that are supposed to provide their target audience with technical expertise. Organisations and governments use them to promote their work and find potential partners for future cooperation. Side events take place in side events rooms and pavilions.

Briefings

High-level UN figures, such as the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC and President of the COP usually host briefings for members of the civil society during the conference. In the briefings, they provide updates about the progress of negotiations, present plans for action beyond COP and take questions from the constituencies.

Bilateral Meetings

Bilaterals are closed meetings between the two sides (Parties, constituencies, organisations, etc.). They can be arranged in advance before COP or ad hoc during the conference. Meeting rooms can be requested as a space to host them.

Youth welcomed the delegates to COP24 with calls to action

YOUNGO

What is YOUNGO

YOUNGO is an acronym for Youth Non Governmental Organisations. It is one of nine officially recognised constituencies of the UNFCCC. YOUNGO is the oldest and largest volunteer-run children and youth constituency to a UN body as of now. It is guided by several principles:

• Flat structure (no hierarchy)
• Consensual decision-making
• Equal voice of all engaging entities

Membership in YOUNGO is open to all youth below the age of 35. You can join the official mailing list by signing up via the membership form. The informal channel is the YOUNGO Facebook group. For all youth attending COP, joining YOUNGO is likely to be a great way to participate in the conference, as the constituency provides opportunities for engagement and connecting with other young people.

Focal Points and Global Coordination Team

Main contact persons between YOUNGO and the UNFCCC Secretariat and the broader UN are the two Global Focal Points (FP) who are elected by youth from among youth for one term. One FP comes from the Global North and one from the Global South. Elections take place every COP.

FPs are supported by a group of volunteers that form the Global Coordination Team (GCT).

Neither FPs nor GCT have decision-making power. They serve as liaisons between youth and external organisations.

Working Groups

Due to the flat hierarchy of YOUNGO, everyone can start a working group or join one. There are numerous working groups (WGs) with different focuses. WGs more or less reflect topics covered by the UNFCCC and its treaties.

If you want to get involved within YOUNGO and contribute, joining an active working group is the best way to do it. Full list of WGs can be found here.

Conference of Youth

Conference of Youth (COY) is the assembly of youth involved in the UNFCCC processes. Global COY usually takes place on the days preceding COP in the same city. In order to facilitate greater inclusion of youth from around the world, dozens Local COYs take place around the world every year and their outputs are then fed into a final COY policy conclusion.

Since the first COY in 2005, there have been 15 Global COYs and 150+ Local COYs involving 125 000+ youth and 180+ nationalities.

Communications

When posting about something related to YOUNGO in social media (especially from COP and COY), it is good to use the following hashtags – #YOUNGO #YouthClimate – and tag YOUNGO. YOUNGO is currently present at 6 Social Media platforms and the YOUNGO Communications Team will retweet, support, reshare and amplify your participation in COY and in YOUNGO processes in general. You are as well very welcome to follow YOUNGO on our different communications channels and engage with the content we post to stay updated with the most recent news about YOUNGO, Climate Action, Youth Empowerment and all other related topics. Kindly find below the links to our Social Media:

• Linktree Link with all relevant Links: https://linktr.ee/youngo
• Facebook – @youngo.unfccc https://web.facebook.com/youngo.unfccc
• Instagram – @youngo.unfccc https://www.instagram.com/youngo.unfccc/
• Twitter – @IYCM https://twitter.com/IYCM
• LinkedIn: @YOUNGO https://www.linkedin.com/company/youngo-unfccc/
• TikTok: @youngo.unfccc https://www.tiktok.com/@Youngo.unfccc
• Email: communications@youngoclimate.org

On YOUNGO’s website you can find more information about Working Groups, most recent updates about YOUNGO’s engagement in multiple processes and more in the following link.

Other constituencies

The UNFCCC is composed of nine constituencies. YOUNGO cooperates with all of them on different occasions. Full list of constituencies can be found here.

During COP, Climate Action Network releases a daily newsletter with updates from the negotiations “ECO” and awards “Fossil of the Day” award to the country which was the most counterproductive to negotiations on a given day.

YOUNGO at COP

Spokes Council

During the COP all young people can join YOUNGO and the best way to do so is joining the Spokes Council every morning, usually around 9:00 am. During the first day of both weeks, an introduction is provided. The introduction involves explanation of the structure of YOUNGO and the workings of YOUNGO as an UNFCCC constituency. During Spokes, all the YOUNGO activities for the day are discussed to get updated about everything that is going on during the COP. During Spokes, information is provided on how to join the YOUNGO group and other communication channels.

Youth involvement at COP

Interventions

As an official constituency, YOUNGO has the ability to make two-minute interventions in the plenary hall and other events. Usually these are statements during the opening and closing ceremony, and some negotiations. Interventions are opportunities for constituencies to officially express their opinion. Interventions are drafted collectively and are delivered by a member of the drafting team. Gender and regional balance should be taken into account when selecting individuals to deliver the remarks.

WGs that follow specific negotiations throughout COP are encouraged to draft their statements on the progression of the proceedings and communicate with the moderators so that they allow for delivering the intervention.

Briefings

High-level figures in the UNFCCC processes, such as Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC and President of COP, traditionally hold briefings for members of civil society where they update NGOs about the agenda, progress of negotiations and take questions. Questions are taken directly from the floor or have to be communicated in advance. YOUNGO usually prepares a shared list of questions in advance to ensure that the most important points for the constituency are touched upon.

Actions

Actions are strikes, sit-ins, performance or other forms of activity that are aimed at drawing the attention of the negotiators to specific causes. Actions may take place inside or outside the COP venue. All those happening inside the venue must obtain an approval from the Secretariat. With the rise of the Fridays for Future movement, local participation in strikes outside of the venue during COP is increasing in popularity.

Bilaterals

Bilateral meetings are one of the best ways to engage with other actors during COP as they provide time and space necessary for meaningful interactions. When it comes to youth, they usually happen between the youth constituency as a whole and the other actor, be it a Party, UN body or organisation. It is at one’s discretion to show initiative and arrange a bilateral meeting. YOUNGO members are particularly encouraged to reach out to delegations of their countries or relevant intergovernmental-organisations.

Side events

Hosting a side event is an excellent opportunity to showcase the work of youth and amplify the voice of the young generation. Most of the side events are scheduled before the COP but sometimes there is a chance to add something to the agenda during the conference, in particular in pavilions. Additionally, it is worth trying to add a youth speaker to events that are already on the agenda.

Art space

The Green Zone often hosts an art space where pieces of art can be presented or created on the spot. Moreover, the host city could be a space for relevant street art as long as it does not vandalise the public areas.

Youth Day

Youth Day has become an integral part of COP. It is organised by YOUNGO in cooperation with Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) staff at the UNFCCC. ACE is a term adopted to denote work under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement. The overarching goal of ACE and of the Youth Day is to empower all members of society to engage in climate action, through education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information, and international cooperation on these issues.

Youth Day is a day devoted to raising the voice of youth and drawing attention to the work of young people around the world. During this day, there are usually meetings of youth with high-level figures as well as events in the main venues that showcase actions of the youth.

Youth Day at COP23 focused on going further, faster, together

Making the most out of COP

Choosing your focus

As it was mentioned before, COP is the largest UN conference with a wide range of topics that it covers and whose scope widens every year. Due to the sheer number of events happening at any given time, it is not possible to stay updated about everything that happens at COP all the time. It is also quite difficult to randomly hop between events because many of them are very technical and make little sense to a lay person. Hence, it is best to determine what are one’s goals for the COP and try to stick to them. Below are a few proposals.

Join the youth

There are usually a few hundred youth attending COP and most of them join YOUNGO, at least in some capacity. During COP, YOUNGO offers many opportunities for engagement.

• The principal form of involvement is joining a working group. Working groups follow one of the negotiation topics, report about the progress to other youth and prepare interventions in these negotiations.
• YOUNGO as a constituency receives invitations to deliver interventions and provide youth speakers in events. Everyone can join the process of drafting speeches and hence, deliver it. Such opportunities are usually presented during the Spokes Council.
• There are specific volunteer positions, such as Culture Watcher, Spokes Council Facilitator and Action Coordinator. They are introduced at COP .

Being fully involved with YOUNGO during COP may be demanding but it is a very rewarding process.

Learn about your topic of interest

For those involved in their work or research with a specific cause, such as oceans or carbon markets, it may be valuable to continue exploring this topic at COP. It may be done through participation in side events, attending negotiations and meeting with people from the sector. In this case, it is particularly worth checking who is going to attend COP and try to arrange meetings with relevant people in advance.

Advocate for your cause

COP is a unique opportunity to get in touch with decision-makers and showcase one’s work to the world. There are many ways to achieve it, including attending and organising side events or even getting featured in Presidency’s events.

Follow negotiations

After all, COP is all about Parties coming together to determine their future actions in combating climate change. For those interested in diplomacy, it is a great lesson of how policy making looks in practice. It is also a chance to get connected with people working on different levels of governmental hierarchy and learn from them how this work looks like. The engagement will be the most meaningful if you interact with the negotiators, ask them questions outside of the meeting room and try to present your cause.

Making your daily schedule

At any given time during COP, there are a dozen or so events happening at the same time. This fact combined with a large size of the venue make it necessary to plan the day and ensure the most efficient use of time. There are a few websites where daily agenda can be found.

• On the UNFCCC website, in the respective COP tab, there is “Daily Programme” site. Daily big-picture agenda is uploaded there in the morning of each day.
• UNFCCC Calendar provides more detailed information about events with breakdown into rooms and details about events. Another version of the Calendar can be found here.
• Information about side events can be found here. However, side events are the most difficult to track as most of the pavilions have their own websites.
• Downloading the UNFCCC application will help you to schedule your time table.
• At times, there are changes of venues so it is always good to constantly verify event locations on the screens around the venue for the latest updates.

Tips for planning the day:

• Venue can be quite large and moving from one end to another can take 10-15 minutes. Take it into account.
• Events usually start late, especially later into the conference. Hence, if an event is interesting but goes over time and you were planning to attend another event, it is probably better to stay where you are. It is likely that the next event will start later and you will make it for the most part anyway.
• When choosing events to attend, it is good to ask: “What events are uniquely available here?” In particular, it is valuable to attend events that allow for interaction with speakers.

Interacting with high-level officials, delegates, etc.

The number of governmental representatives, heads of intergovernmental organisations and renowned researchers present at COP can be overwhelming. It can be even more paralysing to think about talking to them. However, it is important to try to overcome this barrier. At COP, all participants are equal (at least in theory) actors whose goal is to foster climate action and counteract global warming. Hence, no voice is too minuscule to be heard and every young person deserves to be heard. Certainly, some level of mutual respect is necessary for one’s voice to be respected. Many of the high-level figures like to interact with youth and are receptive to our proposals so this good relationship should be maintained.

Networking

One of the possible positive outcomes of interacting with representatives of governments and companies is initiating a new cooperation or even securing an internship. To stay in touch, it is best to ask for contact details and then follow up via email, LinkedIn or text message shortly after the meeting.

Visiting pavilions

Another way of making the best out of COP is taking time to visit pavilions, exhibits and tables. This engagement will help you to stay in the loop with what other organisations are doing. It is also a good place for students who want to proceed with their studies in environment, climate change, agriculture, food security and other topics. Even in terms of research, one may get ideas and have a one-on-one with representatives and experts who can provide in-depth insights. It is important to also know that most organisations do not exhibit for the whole two weeks. Some might exhibit for two days or a day, therefore, it is imperative to allocate a few minutes and just check if there are new organisations of interest exhibiting.

Regional youth meetings

Creating synergies with other youth organisations and individuals from the region is a valuable element of COP. This is a good time to see what other youth from the region are doing, where they get their funding from and if there is room for collaboration.

Following negotiations

Negotiations are the very reason why COP happens so it really makes sense to try to attend at least one or two sessions. At the same time, negotiations happening at COP are too technical and specific for anyone to simply walk into the room and make sense out of what is being said there. There are several steps to follow to get ready for the negotiations and observe them during COP:

1. Identify topic(s) of interest. There are going to be different negotiations happening at the same time so it is best to choose one or at most two topics to follow. The choice can be based on one’s work, research or simply interest. Topics of negotiations change from one conference to another. For a given COP, they can be found in the agenda or documents for the conference on the UNFCCC website.
2. Get updated about previous developments. Most of the topics carry over several sessions of the UNFCCC negotiations – COPs and intersessionals. Hence, it is important that one reads what were the developments in the previous session. Negotiators will be directly referring to paragraphs and articles of previously adopted or discussed documents so it is good to have them handy.
3. Attend the sessions. Tempo of negotiations varies a lot. The first few sessions, including adoption of the agenda, are likely to be very formal and quite boring. On other occasions, Parties may draft a new decision proposal outside of the meeting hours and the direction of the debate may change drastically. In the first session, there will be a link displayed on the screen to join the mailing list for a given negotiation topic. The list is open to everyone and will allow you to stay updated about all the important developments.
4. Ask questions. Despite being very serious during the negotiations, many of the countries’ delegates and moderators are open to young people and willing to answer questions about what is happening. In COP, a lot is said between the lines and an inexperienced observer may miss out on some critical messages. More senior participants can provide invaluable insights into these hints.

Accessibility

According to the assurances of the UNFCCC Secretariat and the UN regulations, all possible efforts are made to provide equitable access to spaces and events of COP. Hence, the venue is supposed to be equipped with ramps, elevators and other structural improvements. Moreover, some of the events, in particular plenaries, offer simultaneous translation to all of the official UN languages.

FAQ

How to stay informed about what is happening during COP?

There are several options. When it comes to physical meetings, during YOUNGO’s daily Spokes Council, working groups give updates on the negotiations that they follow. Moreover, Climate Tracker organises daily update meetings in the morning. In terms of written briefs, ECO is a daily NGO newsletter disseminated online and in paper version. Climate Home News also releases daily updates via their mailing list.

Sources

• YOUNGO Introduction
• Youth Climate Action Platform
• Tools for climate action
• What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change?
• What is the Kyoto Protocol?
• Parties & Observers
• UNFCCC eHandbook - Startpage
• What is Action for Climate Empowerment?
• UNFCCC
• A COP Fit For Children: How to support children’s participation

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