Jarni Blakkarly
Jarni Blakkarly is a journalist based in Melbourne. He is the winner of a Young Walkley Award and he tweets @jarniblakkarly.
As the world prepares for COP27 in Egypt, we ask three veterans of the summit what really goes on behind the scenes, writes Jarni Blakkarly at Cosmos Weekly.
Each year the world’s climate negotiators, environmental non-government organisations, scientists, activists and journalists gather in one place for the United Nations Climate Change “Conference of Parties”, more commonly known as COP.
In its 27th iteration and about to be held in Egypt, COP is where deals get struck regarding emissions reductions, and, essentially, the future of the planet.
But while the media shows us activities in the main conference hall and the speeches from world leaders, there is much more that goes on behind the scenes.
In 1992, countries joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to limit average global temperature increases and to cope with impacts which by then were inevitable.
Watch our wrap on the last COP: In the aftermath of COP26, what have we learnt?
The first conference of the parties was held in Berlin in 1995.
A changing conference
Climate scientist Bill Hare from Climate Analytics, has been to every COP since Berlin, and says the conference, which last year took in some 30,000 attendees, has changed a lot over time from its smaller roots.
“They have become very big, they have gone far beyond the climate negotiating space, they have become an annual political event and it’s become a gathering place for everyone in industry and climate change interests to come together,” he says.
“The negotiating space remains the core of the activity that is done diplomatically and politically, but now you have tens of thousands participating in networking and other activities. It brings together actors from all over the world, not just diplomats and scientists.”
It’s kind of like a poker game to see who can last to the end.
–Richie Merzian
