Analysis: How delegations at COP climate summits have changed over time

As action on environment modification has actually acquired international attention, these COPs have actually grown in prominence. How have the number of individuals and the makeup of delegations changed over the past 25 years?

The chart below demonstrate how the overall variety of named celebration delegates has altered throughout the history of the COP. This has actually increased from around 1,000 at COP1 and COP2 approximately more than 8,000 over the past 5 COPs. Again, peaks can be seen at COP15 and COP21.

The overall totals for delegates from parties, observers and the media are taken from the summary tables at the top of individual lists published by the UNFCCC after each COP has actually concluded. Exact figures might differ between sources– for example, the totals in the previously mentioned website do not match precisely with those for COP22-25 in the UNFCCCs recent “How to COP” handbook.

These named lists do not include all individuals. There are likewise party “overflow” delegates, which can number a number of thousand at an individual COP. The ECBI (pdf) explains:.

For each COP, the UNFCCC generally publishes a provisional list of individuals throughout the top and a last list once it has concluded (periodically followed by corrections). The figures analysed in this post all refer to the final, remedied lists.

The ECBI likewise discovered that participant numbers have actually increased in tandem with the work of arbitrators:.

In addition to the overall individual totals, the UNFCCC also supplies a partial breakdown of each celebration and observer delegation by name.

The chart highlights that the variety of participants has actually normally increased over the 26 COPs to date. The typical total participation throughout the first 10 COPs (consisting of both conferences of the two-part COP6) is around 5,000. In contrast, the average across the last five COPs is almost 22,000 participants.

For the large majority of COPs, there has actually been just a handful of observer states– and never more than three given that COP14. “Holy See”– the city-state of the Vatican– has actually been ever-present as an observer throughout the COPs. While others– such as the State of Palestine, Iraq, Turkey, Somalia and South Sudan– have actually all included at times.

Because the very first COP was held in Berlin in 1995, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has actually gathered the global neighborhood together (almost) every year to advance and assess progress on tackling international warming.

The “Conference of the Parties” (COP) international top is the greatest environment diplomacy occasion of the year.

The table below shows the average called delegation size and gender balance for each celebration. The table is sorted by delegation size by default, but users can click the various column headers to alter this. The search function can be utilized to find specific parties.

Increasing involvement

Naturally, delegations can be much larger. Unsurprisingly, the greatest are regularly from the host nation– examples consist of Japan at COP3 in Kyoto (165 people), Canada at COP11 in Montreal (326) and Peru at COP20 in Lima (269 ). Possibly the most severe case is the Morocco delegation of 1,591 at COP22 in Marrakech.

Methodological note.

The chart below programs the total totals for the three classifications of meeting participants: representatives of parties to the Convention and observer states; representatives of observer organisations; and members of the press.

Gender imbalance.

Brazil also has likewise brought the largest called delegation the most times across the COPs (7 times), followed by Japan (three) and Germany, the United States, Morocco and Poland (two).

Observer organisations are further divided into the UN System and its specialised companies, intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). They have gain access to (pdf) to plenary sessions and some of the deliberations around the draft text, however not the smaller sized “informal informal” discussions.

Peaks in COP attendance can be seen for COP21 (30,372) in Paris and COP15 in Copenhagen (27,301). The build up to both of these summits featured expectations of formally concurring a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol. While COP15 failed with the “weak” Copenhagen Accord, COP21 saw the successful approval of the Paris Agreement– the final details for which will continue to be negotiated at COP26 next week.

The most male-dominated delegations consist of Libya (99% -1%, on average), Mauritius (98% -2%) and Eritrea (98% -2%)..

The typical size of named party delegations for each COP, divided by male (orange) and female (purple) individuals. At COP1, delegations were, on average, 88% male and 12% female. This imbalance has actually decreased somewhat, with each of the last 3 COPs seeing an average balance of 62% male to 38% female.

” It ends up that the overall variety of agenda products addressed in the various bodies during a COP or mid-year SB [Subsidiary Bodies] session is undoubtedly significantly associated with the variety of party participants participating in these sessions.”.

” These badges were first presented at COP3 and allow parties to choose individuals without their name appearing on the official list of individuals.”.

The totals exist for male (orange) and woman (purple) delegates. The lines on the chart show what percentage of the average delegation is male (orange) and female (purple)– highlighting how the gender balance across the delegations has actually changed with time. (See the area listed below for more information.).

Eight celebrations have actually a typical named delegation that is more female led. This consists of two island states– the Cook Islands (38-62%), St Kitts and Nevis (39% -61%)– numerous European countries– Bulgaria (41% -59%), Latvia (46% -54%), Finland (49% -51%) and Albania (49% -51%)– and two Central Asian nations– Kyrgyzstan (46% -54%) and Uzbekistan (47% -53%). With the exception of Finland– which has actually a typical named delegation of 41– these parties all have a typical delegation size in the single figures.

Across all COPs, the typical balance of named delegations is 75% male to 25% woman, equivalent to three men for every single female.

For the functions of this analysis, the most recent name is utilized for each nation. Where a nation has actually altered its formation, all versions are included. For example, “Serbia and Montenegro” was a party state from COP9 to COP11, however considering that COP12, “Serbia” and “Montenegro” have been represented as private states.

The number of individuals from the media has actually changed throughout the history of the COPs. For the following 10 COPs, the number of media representatives generally clocked in at in between 500 and 1,000. And the last 5 COPs have actually seen a step up in media numbers, averaging 1,700.

( At the Paris COP in 2015, one of the Vaticans diplomats stated the Holy See was considering ratifying the UNFCCC in order to sign the– then still under negotiation– Paris Agreement. Till that takes place, Holy See will continue to hold observer status. It is likewise a permanent observer to the UN, more usually, where it can get involved in conversations, however not vote.).

Parties are nation states– plus the European Union — that have ratified the Convention and play a complete part in negotiations. Observer states have actually not completed ratification..

( It is worth keeping in mind that some nations allocate a portion of their celebration badges– called “pink” badges at COPs– to NGOs, which can synthetically inflate the size of their main delegation.).

The average size of named celebration delegations for each COP, divided by male (orange) and woman (purple) individuals. Information looked at from participant lists released by the UNFCCC after each COP has concluded.

Each country brings its own delegation of political leaders, experts and negotiators to go over and agree– or not– a method forward with other nations. The two-week talks are likewise participated in by countless observers and members of journalism.

For the very first time, Carbon Brief reveals the most significant delegations, the best-attended COPs and how the gender balance of delegations has moved over time.The analysis exposes, for instance, that Brazil tends to bring the largest delegation, Morocco as soon as brought a called delegation of nearly 1,600 people, and Libyas delegation is, usually, 99% male.

A report (pdf) published previously this year by the European Capacity Building Initiative (ECBI) recognized a pattern of participant numbers basically doubling after the COPs where new treaties were anticipated– Kyoto (1997 ), Copenhagen (1997) and Paris (2015 ). It also keeps in mind that “after Copenhagen, the UNFCCC secretariat started capping participant varieties of Media and ngos”.

It ought to be noted that some countries have actually changed given that the COP summits began in 1995. Some have actually altered their names– such as Swaziland becoming Eswatini and the Czech Republic becoming Czechia– while others have altered more basically, such as the break up of Yugoslavia.

This includes 2 island states– the Cook Islands (38-62%), St Kitts and Nevis (39% -61%)– several European nations– Bulgaria (41% -59%), Latvia (46% -54%), Finland (49% -51%) and Albania (49% -51%)– and 2 Central Asian nations– Kyrgyzstan (46% -54%) and Uzbekistan (47% -53%). Interactive table of average called celebration delegation size and gender balance (averaged throughout all COPs).

Sharelines from this story.

The average size of a called delegation has increased from an average of eight individuals at the very first 5 COPs to around 40 at the most current five..

The mix of party and observer states has actually also slowly shifted throughout the history of the COP as increasingly more states validated the Convention. The first COP had 117 celebration states and 53 observers. By COP3, the variety of party states jumped up to 155 and given that COP11 there have actually never ever been less than 180 parties present.

Interactive table of typical named celebration delegation size and gender balance (balanced across all COPs). Bars reveal numbers of male (orange) and woman (purple) individuals in average delegation. Table is sorted by delegation size by default, but users can click on the column headers to alter this.

Such a big delegation implies that, when looking at the number of called individuals across all COPs, Morocco has the second largest average delegation (110 individuals). Brazil comes in first (141 ), with France (107 ), Canada (99) and Japan (94) rounding off the top five..

The average gender balance across all the called delegations has actually slowly ended up being less unequal gradually. At COP1, delegations were, typically, 88% male and 12% female. This imbalance has actually declined rather, with each of the last 3 COPs seeing a typical balance of 62% male to 38% woman.

( It needs to be noted that the gender balances provided here are based upon the titles designated by UNFCCC– such as M, Mr and Sr for male individuals and Ms, Mme and Sra for woman– and not by Carbon Brief. On the couple of events that the UNFCCC did not include a title, Carbon Brief found the normal gender of an individuals given name as determined by the genderize.io app. Carbon Brief acknowledges that gender is not best categorised using a binary “male” or “female” label and values that the approaches used to figure out individual gender could lead to errors.).

Of the G7 nations, the UK has the most balanced average delegation (59% -41%), followed by Canada (61% -39%) and the United States (63% -37%). Japans average delegation is the most unequal by some range (83% -17%)..

Called individuals.