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Conferences of the Parties

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The COP (Conference of the Parties) is the highest body of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The annual conferences serve the promotion and verification of the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, which came into force in 1994.

COP 1 in Berlin (1995)
The first Conference of the Parties took place in Berlin in spring 1995. An important result was the adoption of the 'Berlin Mandate'. This provided that a binding protocol with reduction targets and deadlines for the developed countries was to be negotiated by the third Conference of the Parties (Kyoto, 1997).

Further, the secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change was founded. It has been located in Bonn.

COP 2 in Geneva (1996)
The second Conference of the Parties took place in July 1996; it did not, however, produce any appreciable progress. Definition of binding CO2 reduction targets was not achieved.

COP 3 in Kyoto (1997)
The third Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Climate Change resulted in the Kyoto Protocol, in which binding emission limitations and reductions were defined. Pursuant to this protocol, the developed countries must have reduced their emissions of six greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2 percent (compared to the values of 1990) by the year 2010.
The EU committed itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent by the period of 2008 - 2012, the reference year 1990. Under an internal programme of burden sharing, the individual European countries negotiated differing reduction targets (e.g., Austria: 13 per cent).

Further it was agreed on the introduction of the Flexible Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol.

COP 4 in Buenos Aires (1998)
Implementation of the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated during the fourth Conference of the Parties. The BAPA (Buenos Aires Plan of Action) was passed, which predetermined the stages for the formulation of the climate protection measures.

COP 5 in Bonn (1999)
The main topic of the fifth Conference of the Parties was the question of to what maximum extent the parties are allowed to use flexible mechanisms for reaching the reduction targets.

COP 6 in The Hague (2000)
The sixth Conference of the Parties in The Hague lead to no joint policy statement and was finally adjourned; the negotiations were continued in Bonn in June 2001.

COP 6 in Bonn (2001) (part two)
The second part of the sixth Conference of the Parties in Bonn lead on the political level to clarification of the most important open questions to such an extent that the path for detailed resolutions remained clear.

COP 7 in Marrakech (2001)
A compilation of rules for the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol was created during the seventh Conference of the Parties.

COP 8 in New Delhi (2002)
The eighth Conference of the Parties resulted in a burst of technical resolutions and a concluding 'Delhi Declaration'. Further, the Executive Board was reaffirmed in its functional operation

COP 9 in Milan, Italy (2003)
In the Marrakech Accords at COP 7, the parties agreed to allow afforestation and reforestation projects under the CDM: It was not agreed on the detailed rules for such projects. At COP 9, a decision was adopted to for setting forth the modalities and procedures for sinks projects in the first commitment period.

COP 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2004)
Conference of hope through the upcoming entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February 2005.

COP 11 in Montreal, Canada (2005)
At COP/MOP 1 (COP 11) in Montreal, the JI Supervisory Committee was elected.

COP 12 in Nairobi, Kenya (2006)
The second meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP 2), in conjunction with the twelfth section of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 12), was held in Nairobi, Kenya from 6 to 17 November 2006. The main discussion points were "adaptation" in developing countries, the increase of CDM projects and a post Kyoto regime.