Contest of ideas, politics of climate change underway in Baku

More than 32,000 delegates from across the globe, including leaders from governments, climate scientists, businesses, civil society, journalists, as well as representatives from all 198 countries that have ratified the convention, have converged on Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, for the 29th

Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29).

The conference, which is a pivotal opportunity to accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis with global temperatures hitting record highs, and extreme weather events affecting people around the globe and COP29, is expected to advance concrete solutions to the defining issue of our time.

 Agenda for COP29

High on the agenda for this year's two-week summit in the South Caucasus nation is to land a deal to boost funding for climate action in developing countries as without adequate financing, developing nations have warned that they will struggle to offer ambitious updates to their climate goals, which countries are required to submit by early next year.

Africa is a continent that is the least responsible for the climate crisis yet suffers most from climate impacts.

Some are pushing for the current pledge of $100 billion (€93 billion) a year to be raised by 10 times that amount at COP29 to cover the future cost of shifting to clean energy and adapting to climate shocks.

COP is an abbreviation for the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, which refers to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a multilateral treaty adopted in 1992.

The UNFCCC, which entered into force in 1994, has become a basis for landmark agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Climate Agreement (2015), which aims to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

The first COP summit was held in the German capital Berlin in 1995.

Climate treaty

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding climate treaty signed by 196 countries after COP21 in 2015 calls for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels.

However, this goal looks increasingly unlikely to be met. This year, the limit is expected to be exceeded for the first time, while the target is a multi-year average.

The conference will also be a key moment for countries to present their updated national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement, which are due by early 2025.

If done right, these plans would limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and double as investment plans advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.

The leaders of the 13 biggest emitters of carbon countries responsible for more than 70 per cent of 2023's heat-trapping gases did not appear at this year's gathering. Chinese President, Xi Jinping; US President, Joe Biden; France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, and Indian Prime

Minister, Narendra Modi, are among the G20 leaders who skipped the event. Other absentees included German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Brazilian President, Lula da Silva.

Secretary-General 

In his opening remarks last Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said leaders gathered in Baku for the COP29 Climate Action Summit must take immediate steps to cut emissions, safeguard people from climate chaos, and “tear down the walls to climate finance” in response to the “masterclass in climate destruction” that the world has witnessed in 2024.

“The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and time was running out in the fight against climate change”, “No country is spared” from climate destruction ranging from hurricanes to boiling seas, drought-ravaged crops, and more, all being supercharged by human-made climate change.

The UN Chief also said that nations needed to reach an agreement that did not leave developing countries "empty-handed" in their fight against climate change. "A deal is a must," and added that “a new finance goal” was needed, with the wealthiest countries paying the most.

“They are the largest emitters, with the greatest capacities and responsibilities," he said, adding: "Developing countries must not leave Baku empty-handed."

Azerbaijan's President and COP29 host, Ilham Aliyev, repeated a controversial quote that oil, gas and other natural resources were a "gift of the God" and said nations should not be judged by their natural resources and how they used them.

Azerbaijan has seven billion barrels of oil reserves and was one of the first places in the world to start commercial oil production.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, pledged that the UK would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81 per cent by 2035. While many of his Western allies skipped the meeting, Starmer said Britain was "building on our reputation as a climate leader" and that it had "a critical role to play."

COP29 has been labelled the “finance COP” because it seeks to increase funding to support lower-income countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2009, richer nations pledged to provide $100bn annually in climate financing for developing countries by 2020, which they achieved two years later. The world’s poorer nations are now calling for a new goal of at least $1 trillion per year.

A UN-backed report has stated that emerging countries, excluding China, need investments well beyond $2 trillion annually by 2030 if the world is to halt global warming.

An analysis commissioned by the UK and Egypt found that a trillion dollars should come from rich countries, investors and multilateral development banks.

The report added that the remainder of about $1.4 trillion must originate domestically from private and public sources.

COP29 marks the third year in a row that the climate talks have been held in either a petrostate, or economy that relies heavily on oil and gas.

The previous two were held in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and all three were criticised for alleged human rights abuses in the run-up to their events.