Some of the conferences of the parties under the Climate Change Convention have been of greater significance than others in that they have sown the seeds for or achieved significant results for limiting climate change. Here is a list of the main ones.

The Conference of the Parties in Berlin (COP1) was the first after the Climate Change Convention went into force. The parties decided to initiate negotiations for what later came to be known as the Kyoto Protocol. The goal for COP1 was that countries should take on legally binding obligations for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

After difficult negotiations, in particular between the EU and the USA, the Kyoto Protocol was passed at the third Conference of the Parties (COP3).

At the sixth conference (COP6) in The Hague, negotiations collapsed. Amongst other reasons, this was due to insoluble disagreement between the EU and the USA. Afterwards, President George Bush declared in the spring of 2001 that the USA would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

To get the process moving again after the collapse in The Hague, the UN Climate Change Secretariat (IPCCC) called an extraordinary conference of the parties in Bonn (COP6 bis) in the spring. At this conference, and at the following one in Marrakech (COP7), the remaining countries succeeded in agreeing on most of the outstanding questions.

Under the Danish presidency of the EU, the EU tried unsuccessfully at the eighth conference (COP8) to get the ministers to agree to a declaration about the need for further initiatives to limit climate change.

The focus of the ninth conference in Milan (COP9) was finding technical clarifications for some of the outstanding issues remaining from Marrakech.  It concerned, for example, to what extent the giving off and absorption of CO2 in soil and forests should be calculated, and how the Flexibility Mechanisms Joint Implementation (JI), the international quota trade as well as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) should be put together.

In Buenos Aires, the parties worked further at finding technical solutions, just as they also started informal discussions about what should happen after 2012. The conference of the parties in Buenos Aires was the tenth under the Climate Change Convention (COP10).

When the parties met for the eleventh conference in Montreal (COP11), it was to ensure that there would be an international agreement for after 2012. Agreement was reached that the process would continue on two tracks. The first was a global dialogue about a future long-term climate co-operation with all countries participating, including the USA and the large developing countries (China, India, Brazil, etc.). The second was concrete negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol about industrialised countries' obligations after 2012.

The positive momentum from Montreal to start work towards a new binding agreement for after 2012 was maintained at the twelfth conference of the parties in Nairobi (COP12). At the same time, a series of milestones for a forthcoming agreement were set, just as a series of outstanding issues in the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol were finalised.

In Bali (COP13), the Parties reached an accord - the Bali Roadmap, concerning the future process towards signing an agreement at the conference in Copenhagen (COP15). Furthermore, it was agreed that an Adjustment Fund would be established, which would help developing countries in adjusting to climate changes.

COP 14 is to be held in Poznan, Poland and will take place from December 1st to 12th. 2008