The 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), started yesterday in Baku, Azerbaijan, and runs until 22 November. With global temperatures hitting record highs and extreme weather events affecting more people around the globe, COP29 will bring together leaders from governments, business, and civil society to advance concrete solutions to the defining issue of our time. UC political and social scientist Dr Dalila Gharbaoui looks at what to expect.
At a high level, this COP could be considered the 'finance COP' and hopefully the 'COP of delivery on concrete actions,' with some Pacific States such as Fiji calling for concrete climate action for communities: "If we are not talking about grassroots change then there is no point in us coming to COP" - Sivendra Michael, Fiji Permanent Secretary for Environment and Climate Change.
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape announced in August the country would not attend COP29 in "protest at the big nations" for a lack of "quick support to victims of climate change".
The last COP28 was more about taking major decisions (moving away from fossil fuels, operationalising the Loss and Damage fund etc). Expectations are high for this COP to be more focused on delivery (implementation) of climate action, with dedicated forums such as the climate action innovation zone fully focused on delivering actions.
Key issues to watch include:
1. Improving Climate Finance.
This includes specifying details like the timeframe and terms of provision.
After agreement at COP28 to operationalise the Loss & Damage fund, COP29 should be scaling up financial pledges to this fund, to improve finance delivery on the ground.
A New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance that responds to developing countries' needs will be discussed. The $100 billion annual goal on climate finance set in 2009 will be re-negotiated, as it is clearly not enough!
2. Stronger commitments from parties to deliver on COP28 agreements, such as moving away from fossil fuels.
The focus will be on countries' accountability, ensuring their Nationally Determined Contributions match the level of emissions reductions for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5oC.
There will also be a focus on 'just transition', people-first approaches, and sector-specific targets like concrete goals for shifting to emissions-free energy and food systems.
All of these will be expected to align with the National Adaptation Plans, which should have a stronger focus on vulnerable communities and just transition since these were highlighted in the last IPCC report.
3. Cities and Urbanisation will be another focus in negotiations with a devoted pavilion on "Multilevel action and urbanization" showcasing how cities and regions are leading climate action, with the last two IPCC reports recognising that local governance has a key role in delivering climate action.
This article was reproduced from the Science Media Centre.
