29 November 2010: The UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun opened on 29 November 2010 and is scheduled to conclude on 10 December 2010. The conference will include the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the UNFCCC and the sixth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP 6).

The conference also comprises the 33rd sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies, the 15th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 15), and the 13th session of the Ad HocWorking Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the UNFCCC (AWG-LCA 13). The focus of the conference is on a two-track negotiating process aiming to enhance long-term international climate change cooperation under the Convention and the Protocol. The original deadline for completing these negotiations was the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, held in December 2009, but as many issues remained outstanding, the mandates of the two AWGs were extended until Cancun, where they are expected to report their respective outcomes to COP 16 and COP/MOP 6. [IISD RS Coverage] [Conference Programme]