“If you want to influence the conference members at COP15, know the abbreviations.” It is one of the more practical insights mr. Henning Rentz, head of Corporate Policy of RWE and lecturer at Münster University, shared with the Road to Copenhagen caravan.

So, here we go with some of the most used abbreviations in the realm of the UN climate conference. Learn them by heart, and only then you will stand a change when talking to one of the 18.000 (!) conference members.

• ASIS - African Small Island States
• CAP - capita (‘head’, e.g. CO-2 emissions per capita)
• CDM - clean development mechanism
• COP15 - Conference Of Parties, the 15th
• CPN - Copenhagen!
• CCS - carbon capture and storage
• DC - developing countries
• EV - electric vehicles
• GDP - gross domestic product
• GHG - greenhouse gas emissions
• IPCC - International Panel of Climate Change
• MOP - Members Of the Parties
• REDD - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries
• REN - renewable energy
• UNFCC - United Nations Framework for Climate Change

Picture: Henning Rentz