(2 Minutes Read)
The annual United Nations Climate Summit (COP29) has started in Azerbaijan’s Baku with close to 200 countries in attendance. The conference hopes to produce an agreement on reducing emissions and increasing renewable energy. The summit is also expected to set a new global climate finance goal of USD 100 billion annually and a revision of trade policy.
As Baku raised hopes for evolving a proactive package for climate change, a few notable changes were taken place in the political landscape. Donald Trump has become the President-elect of the US. His views on climate change and how the rich countries will support the mobilization of USD 100 billion annually to fund the projects are important. Also, youths particularly in Africa pin a lot of hope on the Baku Summit for evolving projects focused on creating employment opportunities. The US continues to be one of the biggest economies not just in terms of per capita greenhouse emissions but also in terms of financing climate change. The Biden administration has reportedly poured hundreds of millions of dollars into fighting climate change. Trump has historically been known to disregard climate change as a hoax or a scam and even threatened to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement – the UN’s treaty to cut down planet-warming emissions.
Parties will negotiate a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) — a more ambitious, transparent, and predictable climate finance target aimed at better supporting developing countries in areas like mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage. A deal for up to USD 1 trillion in annual climate finance for developing countries is at the top of the priority list for the COP29 meeting. This will replace the USD 100 billion per year commitment that developed countries made in 2009 to support developing nations; a target which was later adopted and extended to 2025 in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The key issues of the new finance commitment remain unresolved, including the scale of funding and questions around responsibility such as who will contribute, and what the finance will cover.
This COP is also the final one before the February 2025 deadline to update nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It offers an opportunity to build momentum for more ambitious national climate commitments. NDCS must reflect the outcomes of the global stocktake (GST) adopted at COP28, particularly the historic decision to phase out fossil fuels.
Finalising the rules for international carbon trading under Article 6 is another key issue on the agenda. While talks have been progressing steadily, experts believe a breakthrough could be possible this year.
Among the nearly 200 attending countries at the Baku summit, major players include China, the world’s largest emitter, which continues to argue that developed countries should lead in climate action and finance; the US, the second-largest emitter; and the European Union, a major contributor to climate finance, though it has yet to finalise its stance on key issues. Azerbaijan, the host, along with the UAE (COP28) and Brazil (COP30), forms the “Troika,” all with fossil-fuel-dependent economies.
Read Also:
Meanwhile, the “Basic countries” bloc, including Brazil, India, and South Africa, advocates for more climate financing, while the G77 + China pushes for greater responsibility from wealthier nations. African nations, on the other hand, seek more finance and the activation of the loss and damage fund, while the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) focuses on securing funding and phasing out fossil fuels.
