COP / CMA / CMP

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the supreme decision-making body of the 1992 Convention. The CMA is its counterpart for the Paris Agreement — the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement — and the CMP is the equivalent for the Kyoto Protocol. They convene at the same venue in the same period each year, which is why a single annual conference in practice hosts COP, CMA and CMP sessions running in parallel.

Why it matters in the room

Mandate decides everything procedural: a decision must be taken by the body competent to take it. Knowing whether an item sits with the COP, the CMA or a subsidiary body tells you who can decide it, on what legal basis, and which Parties are entitled to take part in adopting it.