Signal Switch

Part 2 of our two-part series all about the Conference of the Parties, or COP. In Part 1, Izzie and Greg laid out the foundations of the COP, as well as some "COP outs" - factors that interfere with delivering COP processes and outcomes which are just. We also met one of the key COP players: the negotiators. In Part 2, we dig into more COP outs and more key groups - from civil society and activists to lobbyists and the media. COP is a process which has been on repeat since COP 1 in 1995, stepping through to COP26 in Glasgow most recently. Since that inaugural COP, the stakes have risen year on year. So what was our  verdict on the COP as a whole, this "high school reunion in an airlock"? Is it a process we should keep faith with? You'll have to listen to find out.

The Conference of the Parties, or COP, is the world's largest annual climate change meeting. COPs are hosted by different countries around the world each year. The first COP was held in Berlin in 1995 and since then, there have been 25 COPs. The most famous include COP21 in Paris in 2015 - which yielded the Paris Agreement - COP3 in Kyoto in 1997 that brought about the Kyoto Protocol, and a failed COP15 in 2009 in Copenhagen. This year's COP is COP26 and will take place in Glasgow, in the UK. It will run from October 31, 2021 to November 12, 2021.

COPs are organized under the guidance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an organization created at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. The UNFCCC established a broad climate framework that places a legally binding obligation on those who have signed it. These signatories are called parties to the treaty, and they get to decide what the treaty looks like. To get a whole bunch of parties to decide, regular meetings are needed. These regular decision making meetings are called conferences of the parties - or COP. There are currently 197 parties that are part of UNFCCC. As they are every year, the stakes are high for this year's COP.

COP26 was delayed a year with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. We need urgent climate action on a global scale.

In this two-part episode, producers Greg and Izzie take us behind the scenes of COP and lay out what we might expect at COP26.

The guests featured in this episode include:
Jamie Henn, Co-founder of 350.org and Director of Fossil Free Media
Glen Peters, Research Director at the Centre for International Climate Research
Harjeet Singh, Global Lead on Climate Change for Action Aid International
Rt. Hon Enele Sapoaga, Former Prime Minister of Tuvalu and Permanent Representative of Tuvalu to the United Nations
Angelique Pouponneau, Chief Executive Officer at Seychelles' Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust
H.E. Mr. Ronald Jean Jumeau, Ambassador for Climate Change and Small Island Developing State Issues of the Republic of Seychelles

This episode was produced by Greg Davies-Jones, Kim Kenny, Jens Wendel-Hansen, Lara Davies-Jones, Chantal Cough-Schulze, Rosario Añon Suarez, and Isabel Baudish.

Our music was created by Blue Dot Sessions.

For more information, check out the show notes on www.signalswitchpodcast.com.

Signal Switch is a climate change communication podcast that breaks through the noise to find the best ways of talking, thinking, and ultimately acting on climate change.

In this first season of Signal Switch, we're breaking down the Conference of the Parties, or COP, ahead of COP26 kicking off next week; looking at Activism in the Fridays For Future movement, unpacking our past mistakes in the decade of 1979-1989, and more. You'll be hearing from our narrators Izzie, Chantal, Lara, Greg, and Kim.

For more info, check us out on signalswitchpodcast.com. 

We are super excited to share this journey with you.