COP29: Numbers and Highlights
The Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) attended COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The RMetS has observer status and has been attending sessions in person and virtually to report back on activities.
COP29 in Numbers
11-24: dates of COP29 in November 2024 — although it was originally planned to close on Friday 22nd
198: the number of parties involved in the negotiations.
65,000: the number of delegates registered to attend COP29.
$300bn: the new climate finance goal that developed nations have agreed to help raise each year to support developing countries by 2035 to deal with climate change.
$1.3tn: the climate finance amount captured under Article 9 including plans to develop a roadmap to achieve 'at least' this amount that would include private finance, for consideration at COP30 in Brazil.
Article 6: one positive from COP29 was agreement on the remaining sections of Article 6 relating to carbon markets, which completed all parts of the Paris Agreement originally signed in 2016.
5:31am: the time the COP29 ended on Sunday 24 November .
35: the number of hours COP overran, making it the fourth longest running COP.
Finance COP
One of the primary objectives of COP29 was to advance climate finance, particularly for developing countries. The parties did manage to agree to set a new collective goal for climate funding - known at the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance.
The NCQG agreement takes the current annual contribution of $100bn (~£80bn) a year to $300bn (~£240bn) a year by 2035. Yet despite agreement of the new climate finance package, developing countries expressed deep concern that the $300bn was not enough.
COP Negotiations' Process
It is worth noting that the negotiations' process requires all of the 198 parties to unanimously agree on every word of the text in an agreement. This is a huge undertaking and a significant challenge, considering the different countries involved: from developed to developing countries; from small island nations to those in the G20; and from petroleum states to those who are carbon negative.
Towards the end of negotiations process, the COP29 president, Mukhtar Babayev, confirmed ministerial pairs to try and move the negotiations forward.
Brazil, who will host COP30, and the UK, who hosted COP26, were chosen as a pair to support the negotiations holding consultations with parties.
Text was released on the morning of Thursday 21st, containing two options for the NCQG but did not include a monetary figure. The president then held a six-hour Qurultay so that parties could discuss the text and raise their concerns.
On what was planned to be the final day - Friday 22nd – the first presidency draft text of the NCQG was released, this time including a monetary figure but this was instantly met with widespread disapproval.
COP29 Delays
The opening plenary on day 1 of COP29 started as planned with a speech from the President for COP28 in UAE, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, before handing over the presidency - and the gavel - to Mukhtar Babayev, the elected COP29 President.
However, the opening plenary was then adjourned with an 8-hour delay as discussions behind the scenes, about where on the agenda the negotiations on the implementation of the outcomes of the global stocktake should sit. Almost a full day of negotiations was lost before COP29 had even got started.
And as with most other COPs, the final plenary was also delayed.
Negotiations about the NCQG draft text continued throughout Saturday. The final plenary started with some of the less controversial agenda items being approved. This was then followed by another long delay as negotiations continued. The small island states and least developed country groupings walked out of a meeting in frustration that their concerns were being ignored.
In the early hours of Sunday morning an update to the draft text was shared and the final plenary resumed. The new climate finance agreement, NCQG, was adopted. There was applause around the room but not everyone was content with the outcome, including India and Nigeria.
COP29 eventually ended at 5:31am local time on Sunday 24th November, some 35 hours later than planned.
COP29 Highlights
In addition to the agreement of the NCQG, COP29 also finally reached agreement on Article 6, relating to standards on methodologies and carbon removals. This will be significant for international carbon markets and will have a substantial impact on the voluntary markets too. International carbon markets allow countries, companies, and individuals to trade certified emission reduction credits. The mechanism is designed to standardise carbon credits, boost sustainable development, and prevent double counting of emissions reductions. Significantly, Article 6.4 aims to help countries meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through both emission reductions and removals that are certified at a global level.
There was also agreement that the gender framework programme would continue for another decade - this was introduced at COP20 in Lima.
However, negotiations relating to the transition away from fossil fuels and trebling renewables, covered at COP28, did not reach a consensus and have been deferred to COP30. The Global Stocktake decision from COP28 still stands though as the basis on which countries state their NDCs and delivery plans.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
Post COP29, the parties now focus on their five-year emission reduction targets or 'NDCs'. The deadline for submitting these pledges is February 2025.
The UK and Mexico used COP29 as an opportunity to share their ambitious new targets. Sir Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, attended the World Leaders Climate Action Summit on Tuesday of the first week at COP29. He announced a bold, new climate goal for the UK with a pledge to cut emissions by 81% by 2035, compared with 1990 levels. This target is closely aligned with the Paris Agreement and was one of the first national plans on cutting carbon and one of the most ambitious of any government.