GI-ESCR submitted its application to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to receive observer status at the Conference of Parties (COP) and affiliated bodies and mechanisms. Once the application is successful, we will be able to fully join and input into the different sessions of the COP and other UNFCCC mechanisms and bodies, pushing forward and advocating for a just green transition that respects, protects, fulfils and promotes human rights.

The UNFCCC creates the currently most important space for negotiations around States’ obligations and commitments related to the climate crisis. The forum is quintessential to shaping the ways in which States react to the crisis. Accredited civil society has been very active within the different spaces around the UNFCCC, while organisations without accreditation can only join from the side line without directly engaging with the relevant stakeholders at the meetings and conferences. Therefore, gaining observer status at the UNFCCC will be crucial for GI-ESCR’s strategic plan to address the environmental breakdown and ensure a just transition to sustainable low-carbon societies.