What is Cop27 and why does it matter?

A worker prepares the entrance to the ‘green zone’ before the UN’s global summit on the climate crisis in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Photograph: Thomas Hartwell/AP

What is Cop27?

For almost three decades, world governments have met nearly every year to forge a global response to the climate emergency. Under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), every country is treaty-bound to “avoid dangerous climate change” and find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way.