It’s the only time of year when the world’s eyes are on climate change. While this makes headlines every night, and everyone hopes that, miraculously, nearly 200 countries will somehow manage to put aside their insurmountable differences to come together and resolve this crisis in two weeks. Then we can all stop worrying about how our family and friends will survive the greatest threat to civilization.

Another United Nations climate summit is upon us as negotiators, world leaders and professionals gathered for new discussions, this time in Baku, Azerbaijan. Once again, thousands of people are trying to move action on climate change forward at glacial speed (hoping not to move backwards at glacial speed, which is happens much faster).

These UN conferences can seem far removed from the daily life of the average person watching the news or reading an article, only to be relentlessly bombarded with the most complicated and impenetrable jargon and acronyms imaginable. So, do you know your NDC from your NCQG?

Clearly, these acronyms are perfectly suited and well-intentioned from the internal perspective of the UN, where they are used daily by climate experts and national representatives. But as soon as they enter the wider world, they no longer make sense to most people.

I spend a lot of time talking to non-experts because, in addition to lectures, I am an actor which talks about climate change. Which, I realize, is a strange combination, but not as strange as being police president and general manager of an oil company.

I’m very good at trying to make jargon more accessible and, dare I say, funny, to the audience. So I have a game for you to make understanding it all a little more fun: get your pens ready for Cop29 acronym bingo. Six points if you find them all in the next newsletter you read or listen to.

UNFCCC

A sailor traveled to the Triple Sea A F. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the process of a global response to combat climate change. The international treaty was initially signed in 1992 and since then, this organization hosts the Cop Day, bringing together all these countries.

Cop

Emergency. Emergency. Call 999. The Conference of the Parties is the annual meeting of signatory countries or regions to the UNFCCC. Here, negotiations dictate the global action plan to mitigate and adapt to climate change. These are often referred to as UN climate negotiations, summits or conferences – this is more informative than referring to the COP. Perhaps the name could incorporate the year in question, rather than the number of times cops have occurred. Thus, the “climate talks 24 in Baku” would be much more explicit than Cop29 (the 29th COP on climate). Especially when there is an equivalent biodiversity Cop (currently numbered Cop16, but that’s another story).

CDN

As simple as ABC, it’s an NDC. It’s a nice simple one. Nationally determined contributions are the promises that each party (country) of the UNFCCC makes to all other countries about what it plans to do to combat climate change. It includes their commitments to adhere to legally binding provisions Paris Agreement goals. It’s a decision made by each party itself, which basically says: “we’re going to do our best and this is what we’re going to do.”

NCQG

Without vowels, this one is a mouthful – it sounds like a company that runs a multi-storey car park. NCQG refers to the new collective quantified target for climate finance. And if you think the acronym is dry, then you should see the negotiations. (I actually participated in last year’s negotiations for an afternoon because I’m a total nerd).

The NCQG determines how much money rich countries should send to poorer countries to actually help them, given that they are the countries that have contributed the least to climate change, the countries most affected by climate change and which have the least money. money to spend on managing impacts or reducing their emissions.

Sum

True to their name, reading them will often put you to sleep. National adaptation plans are developed by countries to prepare for current and future climate impacts such as droughts, floods and extreme weather in their own countries and to determine how their populations and economies will cope with change climatic.

Bicfit

This is not a watch that measures your daily steps and heart rate. This was actually a new one for me this year. This is the Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment and Trade. This appears to be a voluntary initiative to bring together various elements of climate trade, finance and investment that was presented at this year’s Azerbaijan summit. Basically, no one knows yet how this will work. This might be useful, might not. But hey, it’s a long acronym.

This makes it difficult to make dry climate negotiations relevant and engaging for the general public. There should be more focus on simply using negotiations to tell good climate stories during this annual two-week period. On why negotiations are important, rather than on the ins and outs of possible policies and agreements. We have people’s attention. Let’s improve climate knowledge to use it more effectively.

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