UNITED NATIONS Climate Change Conference: COP29

---

A comprehensive summary so far

Last November COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, occurred amidst increasing urgency for climate action with 2024 confirmed as the hottest year on record. However, it is not only the statistics that demonstrate the urgency needed from the world’s leaders but also the 27 people who died in the most destructive fires in L.A. history just this month.

The summit highlighted the widening gap between climate commitments and the reality of the crisis, as demonstrated by the average global temperature of 1.55 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level, marking a breach of the Paris Agreement target. This prompted environmental journalist George Monbiot to call the conference a “symbol of political inertia”. The summit, whilst making some positive strides, serves as a reminder that the need for meaningful and achievable climate policies is more urgent now than ever.

---

POLITICAL

Divisions between developing and developed nations dominated the discussion at the summit. This was largely related to how to fund the clean energy transition. Whilst developed countries, particularly in the EU, have benefited from significant private investment in the green energy sector, developing countries are reliant upon the annual Climate Finance Pledge. Developing countries have criticised the $300 billion pledge as being insufficient to address their long-term needs, furthermore, emerging countries such as India stated concerns that this pledge may never be met, demonstrating distrust between nations.

The recent comments of re-elected president Trump - ‘drill, baby, drill’ - and his vow to leave the Paris Agreement will certainly not ease this distrust. If the USA does leave the agreement, which seems increasingly likely, then it will join Iran, Yemen and Libya as the only countries not to be part of the agreement. Whether this may set a precedent for other countries who haven’t been enthusiastic about the direction of COP29 should be watched carefully.

ECONOMIC

As previously mentioned, there was tension during COP29 because of the $300 billion Annual Finance Pledge. This pledge stated that developed nations would mobilize $300 billion annually by 2035 to put towards the global goal of net zero. However, it was argued that this was insufficient to address the long-term needs of developing nations who wanted $1.3 trillion. Furthermore, this economic tension is heightened when looking towards the UNEP’s evaluation that globally there would need to be $5 trillion annually to achieve net zero goals by 2050. Although it should be stated that the $300 billion isn’t all the money that globally will be put into net zero goals for many developing states it will make a large fraction of their investments.

This should all be analysed with an understanding of the rising prices and cost of living across Europe and the United States. Although many may claim to be fierce supporters of a radical shift to green energy whether they will stay resolute to this when their electricity bills are rising is unclear. Perhaps, this may lead other states to drop out of the agreement if they feel it to be economically damaging in the short term resulting in a lower market valuation and a diminished capacity to attract and retain long-term investors.

SOCIAL

Over 40 million people globally were displaced by climate-related disasters in 2023 with the global south bearing the brunt of these figures. This has further strained the relationship between the more economically developed North and the comparatively less developed South. This stems from the belief that although it is typically the developed countries that contribute most to global warming – in 2022 China emitted almost 33% of total global carbon dioxide – it is the developing nations that suffer its consequences.

To address this at COP29 the role of indigenous communities in climate mitigation was highlighted to ensure that they also had a voice. Furthermore, COP29 built upon the COP28 framework to finalise the Loss and Damage Fund to support vulnerable nations facing climate disasters.

TECHNOLOGICAL

Technology and the ability to reach net zero by 2050 are intrinsically linked. This doesn’t concern simply the development of new technologies but also concerns the scalability and cost of current technology. For example, wind turbines can cost up to £4 million each as well as almost £40,000 of maintenance yearly making them exclusively an option for developed states.

At COP29 the UK and USA signed a bilateral agreement to advance research and development of advanced modular reactors – a form of nuclear reactor – that create reliable green (no greenhouse gases produced) energy. Furthermore, a coalition of countries agreed to set a target for global green hydrogen production to increase by 40% by 2030. Green carbon is seen as a crucial element in decarbonising industries such as steel production.

LEGAL 

A landmark development was the new rule for carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement which was approved at COP29. This established a framework for trading emissions reduction credits, known as Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes, between nations. This is a complex area that warrants further reading. In short, the benefit of this would be that it could unlock additional finance that could be put towards the net zero goal.

It is also worth noting that there were efforts to introduce a global climate litigation framework largely spearheaded by Pacific nations calling for there to be legal mechanisms to hold the most polluting countries to account. This is highly contentious and is unlikely to be agreed upon any time soon

ENVIRONMENTAL

[Climate Finance Goal]

One of the many significant environmental implications of the COP29 conference was the establishment of a new global finance target of $300 billion by 2035. This is intended to assist developing countries in mitigating and adapting to the impact of climate change, representing a substantial increase from the previous target of $100 billion annually. Although this is a significant increase from the previous amount, developing countries have remaining concerns that the increased amount is insufficient to address the increasing challenges posed by climate change

[Carbon Credit Trading Mechanisms ]

At the conference, a consensus was reached on establishing rules and a UN registry to facilitate and record international carbon credit trading. This framework, developed under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, is expected to unlock significant climate finance, particularly benefiting developing countries. By enabling countries to trade carbon credits, the mechanism aims to incentivise emission reductions and promote investment in sustainable projects globally.