What’s coming up in the world: COP29 UN Climate Summit 11 – 22 November 2024

It is that time of year again, when the Conference of Parties (COP) meet – this time in Baku, Azerbaijan.

It’s where governments and interested parties from across the globe meet to discuss and negotiate climate issues and make decisions that will affect what happens to our climate going forward.

Money will be the most important focus of this year’s climate talks. Wealthy nations previously pledged they would deliver $100bn a year in climate finance, from 2020, to support poorer developing nations to cut emissions and adapt to climate change. The pledge was locked into the Paris Agreement in 2015, which also built in a ratchet process. That now means a ‘new collective quantified goal’ (NCQG) for climate finance from 2025 onwards is on the agenda at COP29, where delegates must make progress on how the world will turn the billions into trillions.

There is also increasing expectation for the private sector to pay and invest more, both in clean energy and nature-based tools to cut emissions, and in adaptation solutions to build resilience.

COP28 included a historic commitment to transition away from fossil fuels. The first formal acknowledgement in COP outcomes that the use of coal, oil and gas must end, it was hailed as the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. However, there is very little sign of movement on this commitment. COP29 hosts, Azerbaijan, have made little reference to it beyond reiterating the commitment itself. Failure to build on it and achieve progress on what it means for parties in raising their ambition in new pledges, would be seen as a setback for the COP process.

We are likely to know, by COP this year, whether 2024 is the latest hottest year on record, beating 2023. Certainly, it has been a year of ever more dangerous climate impacts. It has become commonplace to refer to each new weather extreme, and every new study or report, as the latest warning for the world. By the time the parties get to COP29, leaders will meet amidst a cacophony of alarms that might reasonably be expected to inject urgency into talks.

Extract from – Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit – https://eciu.net/insights/2024/cop29-what-to-expect