The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit and came into force in 1994. Its 198 parties meet every year as the Conference of the Parties, or COP, numbered from COP1 in Berlin in 1995. Big COPs produce treaties: the Kyoto Protocol at COP3 (1997) and the Paris Agreement at COP21 (2015), under which every country pledges its own emission cuts toward a shared temperature limit.
Key facts
- UNFCCC adopted 9 May 1992, opened for signature at Rio in June 1992, in force 21 March 1994; 198 parties.
- COP1 was Berlin 1995; the Kyoto Protocol came from COP3 (1997) and the Paris Agreement from COP21 (2015).
- Only one year, 2020, had no COP (the pandemic).
- The UNFCCC is one of three 'Rio Conventions', with the biodiversity (CBD) and desertification (UNCCD) treaties.
Latest
COP30 was held in Belem, Brazil, in November 2025; COP31 runs 9 to 20 November 2026 in Antalya, Turkiye, with Murat Kurum as President and Australia's Chris Bowen leading negotiations; COP32 goes to Ethiopia in 2027.
Why exams ask about it
Every year the host city, the COP number and the headline decision are asked; the previous and next hosts are the usual distractors.