King's at COP29
The next UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, COP29, is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11-22 November 2024.
King’s is officially admitted as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) Observer to the UNFCCC COP negotiations and is eligible to nominate delegates to attend the Intersessional meetings and COPs. This process is coordinated for the whole university by King’s Climate & Sustainability, in partnership with the Centre for Climate Law & Governance.
How do I get involved?
Please complete this short form if you are interested in being nominated to be part of the King’s delegation. Please submit your application by 4 July 2024.
All members of staff and students of King’s are eligible to express interest. Please be aware that expressing interest and subsequent nomination does not mean that we will be able to guarantee a place.
COP is a 2-week event for which a small number of badges will be allocated to King’s. In order to enable as many members of the King’s community to attend as possible, 1 week is the maximum length of time any delegate will be able to attend. Members interested and able to attend for less than a week will also be considered.
How do I fund attendance?
There is no central fund to cover expenses for those traveling from King’s and you must be able to cover your own costs (either through your grant, department, directorate etc.). Please only apply if you know that you will have access to funds for your trip as there is no university-wide funding available.
There is no conference fee to attend the COP but delegates must arrange to cover their own travel, visa, accommodation, and subsistence costs. If attending for a week, this is expected to be in the range of £1500-£2000.
How are delegate places allocated?
Each year we receive a high volume of requests for nomination but are generally only awarded a small number of delegate badges by the UNFCCC Secretariat. For COP28, King’s was allocated 3 badges for attending COP in-person, which we split into 6 delegate places, with each delegate permitted to attend one of the two weeks, plus 5 virtual badges for delegates to attend online. We therefore use the selection criteria outlined below to decide who will represent the university. Confirmation on the number of available delegate badges is likely to be provided by UNFCCC Secretariat in September (date tbc) but we expect a similar number for COP29.
Decisions will be made by a selection panel based on the criteria below. 15-20 will be shortlisted for nomination, with final round decisions made once the Secretariat confirm the badge numbers available to King’s.
SELECTION CRITERIA
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No.
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Criteria
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Score/eligibility
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1
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Demonstrates relevant research expertise/role at King’s and how this aligns to key areas of interest for COP29 (find out more here) and King’s Climate & Sustainability strategy.
Examples include:
- Delegates who are running or speaking at an in-person event in the formal “Blue Zone” with a defined audience, message and route to impact.
- Delegates who are engaging with policymakers and government representatives with a defined message.
- Delegates who are undertaking in-person research on the ground with clearly stated research aims.
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60/100
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2
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Demonstrate clear rationale for why attending COP is beneficial to their research/work and to King’s
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40/100
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3
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Willingness to contribute to King’s outputs, media, communications and evaluation during and post COP
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Yes/No
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4
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Commitment to participate in preparation, group coordination and post-event training/events
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Yes/No
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5
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Able to fund own travel, accommodation, and visas
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Yes/No
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Additional selection considerations by the panel
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6
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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion considerations and diversity of delegation (including representation from different faculties, career stage, gender, whether or not the individual has attended COP before
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TIMELINE
Dates subject to change as information becomes available from UNFCCC secretariat.
- 14 June - Expressions of Interest form opens for applications.
- 4 July – Expressions of Interest form closes.
- End of July – successful university members informed they have been nominated for a COP29 badge and applicants confirm acceptance pending final UNFCCC badge allocation decision.
- September (TBC) - UNFCCC confirm numbers of badges allocated to King’s. Final delegation agreed and successful university members informed; applicants confirm acceptance.
- November (TBC) - pre-event coordination meeting/training for attendees with key university partners followed by informal pre-event for attendees.
- 11-22 November – university delegation attends COP29 in person/online.
- December (TBC) - post-event Q&A/sharing, feedback and reporting.
Further information:
Please contact sustainability@kcl.ac.uk if you have any questions.