What are the main factions at COP — and what do they want?

Every year, leaders from 197 governments arrive at the United Nations Conference of Parties climate summits, better known as COP, to negotiate for the future of the world.

The talks are notoriously complex. Every country in the world is there and required to come to a consensus agreement. As a result, the decision-making is driven by a loose and ever-changing menagerie of factions and groups.

Newcomers to COP are greeted by a mouthful of acronyms, each standing for one of the blocs engaged in the negotiations, all with their own objectives. There are more than a dozen, as outlined in the chart below.

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