Foreword from Dr. Paul Beers – Head of Sustainability

This year’s climate change conference of the parties, COP27, is being held in Egypt. The annual COP meeting is the supreme decision-making forum of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

At this meeting all the governments, that have signed the climate change convention and committed to fighting climate change, meet for 10 days of intense discussions. They debate and address climate change and its impacts and decide on joint plans to limit global warming.

The climate change COP is the one that we are the most aware of but there are two other COP’s as well on biodiversity and desertification. All three originating from the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

The delegates for COP27 include world leaders, ministers, negotiators, representatives from civil society businesses, international organisations, and the media. All of them contributing to the debate on how we can act together to stop climate change and the harmful effects it can have on us all.

Negotiators, often ministers, meet at each COP to agree on the global policies and action that is needed. These decisions are then brought back to each individual country and implemented as government policy. So, the debate and discussions that are taking place at COP27 will have an impact on all of our daily lives.

Last year, COP26 took place in Glasgow and the UK continues to hold the presidency until COP27 takes place this year in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

COP27 has the strapline ‘Together for Implementation’ and is considered to be the African COP putting African countries at the centre of debate, because these are the ones exposed to some of the most severe impacts of climate change.

Throughout the 10 days of discussions, we will be publishing updates on the decisions and key discussion points from this important meeting.