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Governance

The Climate Ozone Protection Alliance (COPA) is a member driven coalition of organisations and countries. The Alliance was initiated in 2021 by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). COPA is jointly implemented by GIZ, UNIDO and UNDP. BMWK has commissioned the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to fulfil the secretariat function. Within GIZ, COPA is integrated into the Proklima program, which has been promoting the worldwide expansion of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient cooling technologies since 1995. The governance statutes outline the working modalities of COPA, whereas the task and responsibilities of the elected Steering Committe are summarized in a separate document. Both documents are available as pdf-files below, together with an introduction to the first Steering Committee elected for the period 2023-2025.

 

 

The Steering Committee is elected by COPA members for a period of two years as representatives from the different Member Groups. The Steering Committee appoints the Advisory Board, approves projects and secures funding, but also represents COPA at Events and coordinates its work with and supported by the Secretariat. 

The Steering Committee is the responsible decision-making body for all strategic matters related to the Alliance, unless explicitly assigned to the plenary. It shall take decisions by reflecting the views of key stakeholder groups in a participatory manner.

All members of COPA are part of the Plenary. The Plenary elects representatives of the different stakeholders to the Steering Committee. Members of the Plenary also work in the Thematic working groups. Meetings take place at least once a year, where the working groups present results and the plenary discusses next steps of the Alliance.

The Advisory Board advises and links the other elements of the COPA Governance structure. The Advisory Board ensures that the Steering Committee takes informed decisions and the Secretariat informed actions. It further provides technical inputs and ensures that the activities of the Alliance align with other international initiatives.

The Secretariat is provided by GIZ. It reports to and coordinates the Steering Committee and also coordinates the Plenary and the Thematic Working Groups. The Secretariat is also responsible for public communication on behalf of the Alliance.