United Nations Climate Summit

In December Katowice will be the host of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP24). First organised in 1995, the event serves as a forum for developed countries to address climate change, as well as their progress, cooperation and obligations in dealing with it. Close to 20,000 participants are expected to attend, including politicians, NGO representatives, the scientific community and the business sector. This will be the third time that the event takes place in Poland (following Poznan 2008 and Warsaw2013) and it is no surprise that Katowice is in the leading role this time. The last few years have seen this historically industrial, working-class city emerge from a decades-long post-industrial funk. Once a black spot on the map, today Katowice and the surrounding area of Upper Silesia is one of the most innovative, culturally dynamic and economically vibrant regions in the country, undergoing major infrastructure and urban renewal projects. COP24 in Katowice will encompass the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24), the 14th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 14), and the Conference of Signatories to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1).