The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee

The negotiations on the Convention were conducted by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change (INC/FCCC), established by the UN General Assembly. The INC met five times under the chairmanship of Jean Ripert (France), including a resumed fifth session in May 1992 at which the Convention was adopted. The INC met a further six times after the adoption of the Convention to prepare for the first session of the COP, this time under the chairmanship of Raúl Estrada-Oyuela (Argentina). Over this period, the INC developed recommendations for decisions on the implementation of the Convention to be taken at COP 1, including on the financial mechanism, reporting obligations and the adequacy of commitments. The INC met for the last time in February 1995, before handing over the results of its work to COP 1 in late March of that year.

The Conference of the Parties

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the "supreme body" of the Convention, that is, its highest decision-making authority. It is an association of all the countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention.

The COP is responsible for keeping international efforts to address climate change on track. It reviews the implementation of the Convention and examines the commitments of Parties in light of the Convention's objective, new scientific findings and experience gained in implementing climate change policies. A key task for the COP is to review the National Communications submitted by Parties. Based on this information, the COP assesses the effects of the measures taken by Parties and the progress made in achieving the ultimate objective of the Convention.

The COP meets every year, unless the Parties decide otherwise. So far, it has met five times in different cities. The venue for the COP usually rotates between the five recognized UN regions together with the position of COP President (see Table below). When no offer is received to host the COP, it meets in Bonn, the seat of the secretariat (formerly Geneva).

Dates, venues and Presidents for the sessions
of the COP held to date

The Convention COP will serve as the "meeting of the Parties" (or "MOP") to the Protocol. This body, known by the acronym COP/MOP, will meet during the same period as the COP. Parties to the Convention that are not Parties to the Protocol will be able to participate in the COP/MOP as observers, but with no right to take decisions. The functions of the COP/MOP relating to the Protocol are similar to those carried out by the COP for the Convention.

COP	Dates	Venue	President (all of ministerial rank)
COP 1	28 March - 7 April 1995	Berlin	Angela Merkel (Germany)
COP 2	8 – 19 July 1996	Geneva	Chen Chimutengwende (Zimbabwe)
COP 3	1 – 11 Dec. 1997	Kyoto	Hiroshi Ohki (Japan)
COP 4	2 – 14 Nov. 1998	Buenos Aires	Maria Julia Alsogaray (Argentina)
COP 5	25 October - 5 November 1999	Bonn	Jan Szyszko (Poland)
COP 6	13 – 24 Nov 2000	The Hague	Jan Pronk (President-designate) (Netherlands)

The Subsidiary Bodies

The Convention also established two standing "subsidiary bodies": the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). These bodies give advice to the COP and each has a specific mandate.

As its name suggests, the SBSTA's task is to provide the COP with advice on scientific, technological and methodological matters relating to the Convention. It serves as the link between the scientific information provided by expert sources such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the one hand, and the policy-oriented needs of the COP on the other. The SBSTA works closely with the IPCC, sometimes requesting specific studies from it.

The SBI helps with the assessment and review of the implementation of the Convention. It plays a key role in examining the National Communications and Emission Inventories submitted by Parties and provides advice to the COP on the financial mechanism (operated by the Global Environment Facility), as well as on administrative and budgetary matters.

The SBSTA and SBI work together on cross-cutting issues that touch on both their areas of expertise. These include the Protocol's mechanisms, compliance, capacity building and the vulnerability of developing countries to climate change and to mitigation measures.

The subsidiary bodies are open to participation by all Parties to the Convention, and governments often send representatives who are experts in the fields of the respective bodies. The Chairmen of the subsidiary bodies that have served to date are listed in the table below. The SBSTA and the SBI meet in parallel, at least twice a year. When they are not meeting in conjunction with the COP, the subsidiary bodies usually convene at the seat of the secretariat. Exceptionally, in September 2000, they will meet for their thirteenth sessions in Lyon, France.

Past and present Chairmen of the SBSTA and the SBI

Term of Office	SBSTA	SBI
Elected at COP 1 Served SBSTA 1-7	Tibor Fargo (Hungary)	Mahmoud Ould El Ghaoud (Mauritania)
Elected at COP 3 Served SBSTA 8-10	Chow Kok Kee (Malaysia)	Bakary Kante (Senegal)
Elected at COP 5 Expected to serve SBSTA 11-13	Harald Dovland (Norway)	John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda)

In addition to the SBSTA and the SBI, the COP may establish additional bodies as needed. Thus far, it has established two:

The Ad hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM) was set up at COP 1 to conduct the talks that led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. It met eight times, including a resumed eighth session on the eve of COP 3, under the Chairmanship of Raúl Estrada-Oyuela (Argentina).

The Ad hoc Group on Article 13 (AG13) was also launched by COP 1, to explore how to implement Article 13 of the Convention. Article 13 calls for the establishment of a "multilateral consultative process" to help governments overcome difficulties they may experience in meeting their commitments. AG13 met six times, under the Chairmanship of Patrick Széll (UK), and made its final report to COP 4. Although it was able to agree on almost all elements of a multilateral consultative process, there was no consensus over the composition of the committee that would run this process.

COP 4 established a joint working group under the SBI and SBSTA to develop the compliance system outlined in the Protocol. The joint working group meets in parallel with the SBSTA and SBI and reports to the COP through the subsidiary bodies. It is not, therefore, a subsidiary body itself. The joint working group is expected to complete its work by COP 6. It is co-chaired by Harald Dovland (Norway) and Tuiloma Neroni Slade (Samoa), who replaced Espen Ronneberg (Marshall Islands) after COP 5.

The Kyoto Protocol will make use of the same permanent subsidiary bodies as the Convention, but only Parties to the Protocol will have the right to take decisions on Protocol matters. The COP/MOP will also be able to establish its own subsidiary bodies, if needed.

Bureaux

The work of the COP and each subsidiary body is guided by a Bureau, elected by Parties to the Convention at the start of each session of the COP. To ensure continuity, the elected Bureaux serve not only at sessions of the COP and subsidiary bodies but during inter-sessional periods as well.

The COP Bureau consists of 11 members; two are nominated by each of the five UN regional groups and one place is reserved for a representative of small island developing states. The members include the COP President, seven Vice Presidents, the Chairmen of the SBSTA and the SBI, and a Rapporteur. The position of COP President is typically held at ministerial level. He or she is responsible for presiding over the work of the COP and facilitating agreement among Parties. The Vice-Presidents provide support to the President and may be called upon to consult on specific issues. The Rapporteur is responsible for the report on the session. The positions of the President and the Rapporteur are formally required to rotate among the five UN regional groups (see section on the participants in the Convention process ), while the positions of the subsidiary body Chairmen are subject to an informal rotation. The Bureau is elected for one year, although its members may be re-elected for a second term.

The SBSTA and SBI Bureaux consist of a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman and a Rapporteur, who perform similar functions to their counterparts on the COP Bureau and usually serve for two years.

The COP, SBSTA and SBI Bureaux will also serve the Protocol, but only members representing Parties to the Protocol will be able to sit on the Bureaux when Protocol issues are being discussed.

Financial mechanism

The Convention established a financial mechanism to provide funds on a grant or concessional basis to help developing countries to implement the Convention and address climate change. The Convention assigned the role of operating the financial mechanism to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) on an interim basis and, in 1996, COP 2 adopted a memorandum of understanding with the GEF on their respective roles and responsibilities. In 1998, COP 4 entrusted the GEF with this role on an on-going basis, subject to review every four years. The multi-billion-dollar GEF was established by the World Bank, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1990 to fund certain developing country projects that have global environmental benefits, not only in the area of climate change, but also in biodiversity, protection of the ozone layer and international waters. Since the establishment of the GEF in 1991 (initially as a pilot programme), a total of US$5.7 billion has been allocated to climate change activities. Over the last reporting period July 1998 – June 1999, ttotal project financing for climate change activities during the reporting period exceeded US$534 million, of which GEF provided US$115 million in grant financing. Approximately US$420 million was leveraged in co-financing for the project activities from bilateral agencies, recipient countries, and the private sector.

The financial mechanism is accountable to the COP, which decides on its climate change policies, programme priorities and eligibility criteria for funding. The COP therefore provides regular policy guidance to the financial mechanism on its climate change work, based on advice from the SBI. The Kyoto Protocol will use the same financial mechanism.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is not an institution of the Convention but it provides vital scientific input to the climate change process. It was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UNEP to bring together leading scientists from all over the world to conduct rigorous surveys of the latest technical and scientific literature on climate change. The IPCC is best known for its assessment reports that are widely recognized as the most credible sources of information on climate change. The First Assessment Report in 1990 helped launch negotiations on the Convention. The findings of the Second Assessment Report, which was approved in 1995, galvanized many governments into intensifying negotiations on what was to become the Kyoto Protocol. The Third Assessment Report will be released in 2001.

The IPCC also produces "Technical Papers" and "Special Reports" on specific issues at the request of the SBSTA and carries out important work on improving methodologies for estimating greenhouse gas emissions. The SBSTA acts as a link between the COP and the IPCC, and a joint working group of the Bureaux of the two bodies meets regularly to ensure coordination. A contribution is made to the costs of the IPCC from the Convention's Programme Budget.