Advisory Workshop for COP26 Presidency Team

In November 2021, 39,509 people from around the globe descended on Glasgow, Scotland to attend the UN Climate Negotiations. Over the course of 11 days, delegates navigated their way through a packed agenda addressing financing for adaptation, loss and damage, mitigation, and technology and capacity building. All of this was guided by the UK Presidency team, and COP26 President Alok Sharma, with the aim of achieving a successful outcome.

In light of this, CEMUNE organised a 1.5-day workshop from 14-15 October 2021, on negotiation management to support the incoming UK Presidency at COP26. The workshop convened experts and officials from previous COP Presidencies, including Denmark, France, Germany, Peru, and South Africa. Officials from the UNFCCC Secretariat and the World Trade Organization were also invited. They shared valuable insights and advice for the UK team, who included COP 26 President Alok Sharma, and lead negotiator, Archie Young.

Over the course of the 2 days, participants addressed issues in a series of roundtables based on the 7 dimensions for consideration when trying to ensure successful of negotiation management, as defined by CEMUNE. Roundtables under consideration included:

• Trust, legitimacy and efficiency
• Engagement of non-party stakeholders
• Teamwork and governance
• Convergence strategies and tools for the COP endgame.

Expert speakers made opening remarks at the start of each session, followed by a discussion among experts who drew on their own expertise to provide advice on how the incoming Presidency could address the challenges faced by every COP Presidency. They also addressed specific challenges related to COP26, such as how to navigate non-party stakeholders when they hold protests or deal with setting the agenda. Informal discussions between experts and the participants from the UK carved out specific options with possible next steps. These sessions were moderated by the Centre for Multilateral Negotiations.

The success of COP26 as well as the positive feedback from workshop participants has highlighted how the workshop provides an excellent opportunity for incoming presidencies to sit down and craft concrete facilitation options for their COP Presidency in concert with the experts present in the session.

THOUGHTS AND RESPONSES TO THE WORKSHOP