2020 marks the beginning of a new phase in the global negotiations on climate change: the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement. While the multilateral effort over the last three decades has focused on negotiating multilateral treaties and their rulebooks, the future will be about implementation. This shift of focus is likely to have major impacts on the role and functioning of the institutions responsible for the global negotiations, in particular for the Conference of the Parties (COP)1 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In this report, we propose new arrangements that reflect this new role, particularly for the COP. We propose that COP sessions (COPs) should be slimmed-down in size considerably to deal with technical matters related to implementation. Political elements, meanwhile, can be dealt with in processes outside the COPs that have already been established to support implementation on the ground – such as the Climate Action agenda, the Marrakech Partnership, the Regional Climate Weeks, and the technical meetings and workshops that support countries in formulating and implementing policies and measures in support of climate ambition.