Acronyms are a familiar sight for investors and anyone working in the sustainability space, but it’s easy to lose track of COP-specific terms between conferences. This glossary aims to help you get up to speed on some of the most commonly used terms, listed in alphabetical order.
BICFIT focuses on creating a nexus of climate finance, investment and trade to promote investment into green diversification, support policy development and share expertise through dialogue. It will also encourage the establishment of national, regional and sub-regional platforms to enhance this network.
It will work with multilateral development banks and climate funds, philanthropic organisations and development partners for two objectives. First, to better integrate climate finance with trade and investment. Second, to channel public and private climate finance to developing countries.
The COP29 Presidency has launched the Baku Global Climate Transparency Platform (BTP), a collaboration platform for stakeholders to work together and increase transparency in Climate Action. The platform aims to build trust, promote universal participation and support developing countries to finalise their Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs).
Parties to the Paris Agreement are required to submit a Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) every two years under the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), which is a UFCCC tool that outlines how countries report on their progress in addressing climate change. The first submission is scheduled for 31 December 2024.
The report aims to provide detailed information on national greenhouse inventories, progress in achieving NDCs, climate change impacts, adaptation measures and more. The BTR is replacing previous reporting mechanisms like Biennial Update Reports (BURs) and Biennial Reports (BR) to ensure more comprehensive and standardised data for global climate action.
The full event title is “Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” (UNFCCC - definition below). Unless agreed otherwise, all countries who have signed the UNFCCC foundational treaty meet annually at the COP.
The important role of host nation is circulated between the five UN regional groups: African States, Asia-Pacific states, Eastern European states, Latin American and Caribbean States, and Western European and Other states.
COP29 is launching the Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF), which will rely on voluntary contributions from fossil fuel-producing countries and companies across the oil, gas and coal sectors. With Azerbaijan as a founding contributor to this fund, members will commit to transferring annual contributions as a fixed sum or based on production volume.
About 50% of this capital would be directed towards climate projects in developing countries to promote the adoption of clean energy technologies, improve energy efficiency, strengthen the climate resilience of vulnerable populations and facilitate the development of cutting-edge technologies.
The rest would be allocated to help members of the next generation of NDCs keep the 1.5C target within reach.
A catch-all term for an enormously diverse range of poorer or less economically developed nations. Sometimes referred to as the “global south”, in contrast to advanced economies in the “global north”. Many question the accuracy and effectiveness of these broad categorisations.
Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) refers to a set of guidelines and requirements for tracking, reporting and reviewing climate actions and support, established under the Paris Agreement. It outlines how countries report on their progress in addressing climate change.
The ETF ensures that both parties – both developed and developing- submit transparent and comparable data, which includes information on greenhouse gas emissions, national inventories and the implementation of mitigation and adaptation efforts.
The first set of Global Stocktake results will be published this year at COP28. It’s a two-year assessment which takes stock of the world’s collective progress towards achieving the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, referred to by some as the ‘world’s biggest report card’.
The GST is focused on three main areas: mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation and support, the last of which includes finance. The results evaluate progress on a global level, but countries are expected to consider its outcomes when they next update their nationally defined contributions (NDCs).
Established in 2011 to help fund clean energy and sustainable development projects in developing countries. It is the world’s largest climate fund, mandated to support developing countries raise and realise their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) ambitions towards low-emissions, climate-resilient pathways.
The champions connect the work of governments with the many voluntary and collaborative actions being taken by non-state actors - including cities, regions, businesses and investors - working towards the Paris Agreement.
There are two champions each year: one from the previous host nation, the United Arab Emirates, and one from the current hosts, Azerbaijan.
The Least Developed Countries are 46 nations that are “especially vulnerable to climate change but have done the least to cause the problem.” The group coordinates its decision-making at COP negotiations.
33 of the LDC countries are in Africa, nine in Asia, three in the Pacific, and one in the Caribbean. The list is reviewed every three years by the UN Committee for Development Policy and those countries qualify for special concessions to help them ‘graduate’ from this status.
Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) refers to strategies or frameworks that promote collaboration and coordinated actions across multiple sectors – like transportation, infrastructure, energy, finance, and more – to achieve a shared goal. The idea here is to create synergies to drive systemic change and address complex challenges that no sector can manage alone.
International financial institutions chartered by two or more countries to encourage economic development in poorer nations. MDBs provide loans and grants to member nations to fund projects that support social and economic development, often at low or no interest.
Supports the implementation of the Paris Agreement by facilitating collaboration between governments and non-state actors. The partnership is led by the UNFCCC High-Level Climate Champions.
Mahesh Roy, IIGCC Investor Strategies Programme Director also co-leads the finance workstream for the MGPCA and we are working with them at COP28.
National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are strategic frameworks that are developed by countries to address and manage the impact of climate change. They guide nations to identify medium- and long-term needs to adapt to changing climate conditions, reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience across various sectors.
A new climate finance goal for the post-2025 period which countries will have to set next year at COP29. It replaces the current goal of mobilising $100bn per year for climate action in developing countries by 2020, which was agreed at the Copenhagen Accord in 2009 and reinforced by the Paris Agreement.
Developed countries have so far missed this goal and an emergency delivery plan at COP26 warned that they may not hit it until 2025, though new data indicates that they may achieve it in the 2022 annual review.
This failure jeopardises trust between nations, and the hope is that discussions at COP28 will align agreement on this new NCQG goal to restore it.
A party member’s individual, self-defined national climate pledges as part of the Paris Agreement. NDCs detail what a country will do to help meet the global goal to limit temperature increases to 1.5°C by 2050, including how it will adapt to climate impacts and ensure sufficient finance to support these efforts.
Each participating country is required to establish an NDC and update it every five years "to reflect the highest possible ambition", with the next wave due by the end of 2025.
A distinct group of 39 states and 18 associate members that face unique social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities, including climate change. SIDs are located in three regions: the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, and the Indian Ocean and South China Sea.
Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, is one leader from the SIDs taking an outsized role in climate conversations. She leads calls for a reform of finance between developed and developing countries, known as The Bridgetown Initiative, which aims to stop poorer countries from spiralling into debt during climate disasters.
The UNFCCC was established in 1994 to support the global response to the threat of climate change. Its framework convention is referenced in subsequent climate agreements and is considered a foundational text for international climate action. The UNFCCC Secretariat hosts several negotiation sessions ahead of each COP to narrow down discussion points at the event.
The UNFCCC has almost universal international membership, with 198 (country) party members. It also maintains the registry for nationally defined contributions (NDCs) and provides technical analysis of climate change information.
Find out more about IIGCC activity in our overview of IIGCC at COP28.
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