COP-29 AND BEYOND | Energy Central

BACKGROUND:

The Conference of Parties (COP) is the formal meeting of UNFCCC parties to take stock of progress on climate change and negotiate agreements.  The primary task of the COP is to review national communications and emission inventories and assess measures taken by parties and progress to meet the objectives of the convention.  The meeting is annual unless the parties decide otherwise.  The COP-29 was recently held at Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2024 following COP-28 which was held at Dubai, UAE.  UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell announced, “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity”.

COP -29 DIRECTIVES:

The final directive of COP29 was a new finance goal to keep countries to protect their people and economies against climate disasters and share vast benefits of clean energy boom.  With this new focus on finance, it brought together nearly 200 countries to reach a breakthrough agreement – Triple finance to developing countries to USD 300 billion annually by 2035; efforts of all actors to work together to scale up finance to developing countries.  New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) as agreed after two weeks of intensive negotiations requires all nations to unanimously agree on every word of agreement.

OUTCOME OF THE MEET:

Leaders, scientists and activists who gathered at the COP-29 meeting noted the urgency of climate crisis reaching new heights and to press on pathways towards limiting global warming, addressing climate finance and promoting sustainability.  The objective to implement actionable solutions and provide critical support to vulnerable nations was indeed primary.

This crucial meeting of the COP comes at a juncture when record-breaking temperatures in 2024 and alarming reports of ice sheet loss that demand immediate action.  The meeting highlighted the gap between existing commitments and transformative actions to meet 1.5⁰C limit of the Paris Agreement.  Greta Thunberg a climate activist was quick to leak videos discussing fossil fuel deals of the venue for the meet which in fact, need to be ironed out.

Since the focus is on finance, this meet is called “the Finance COP” referring to funding that is desired to help lower-income countries transition to net zero.  Major objective of COP-29 was to increase funding and produce a new goal for the future.  Similar targets were drawn for methane reduction by 2030.

The unprecedented temperatures of 2024 warranted the need for effective climate policies.  Many countries announced updated NDCs specially Brazil committing to a 67% reduction by 2035 and UK pledged to cut emissions by 81% (2030).  Water for climate action, Adaptation funding and just energy transition partnerships were a few more pledges made at this conference.

COP-29 clearly demonstrated that international cooperation is crucial to tackle climate crisis while emphasizing funding and the urgency to implement these plans at once.

LOOKING BACK:

When one looks back at the key decisions made at these COP meetings, one would get a glimpse of progress/non-progress on the commitments made at each one of them.  In fact, the developments starting from the first reference to climate change (end of 1950s) to the recent has been outlined in one of my earlier publications in Energy Central.  Several meetings of scientists and government representatives took place until the Conference of Parties (COPs) took over – First World Climate Conference 1979 directing to foresee and prevent potential man made changes in climate change.  Conference of Parties (COPs) first meet was in Berlin 1995 – ‘Berlin Mandate’.

With that introduction to the beginning on climate change discussions, let me draw your attention to the most recent 3-4  COP meetings to highlight the directives and transformation to connect to the most recent meet of COP….COP-29.

• COP: 25^th: Madrid, Spain Dec. 2019 – The objective was to complete the rule-book to the 2015 Paris agreement that will become effective in 2020 to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. “Saw progress made by the private sector and by national, regional and local governments.  There was widespread disappointment that no consensus was reached on increased climate ambition”

• COP 26^th :’ ‘Oct.-Nov. 2021 Glasglow, England Glasglow Climate Pact’ Climate months before the summit at just 1.1⁰C of global warming generated floods, wildfires, storms or heatwaves.  “And they collectively agreed to work to reduce the gap between existing emission reduction plans and what is required to reduce emissions, so that the rise in the global average temperature can be limited to 1.5 degrees. For the first time, nations are called upon to phase down unabated coal power and inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels”.

• COP 27^th : Nov. 2022.  Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.  Five key takeaways – 1. Establishing a dedicated fund for lost and damage 2. Maintaining a clear intention to keep 1.5⁰C within reach 3. Holding businesses and institutions to account 4. Mobilizing more financial support for developing countries 5.  Making the pivot toward implementation.

• COP 28th: Nov.-Dec. 2023 Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The meeting took stock of (‘global stocktake’) the world’ efforts to address climate change under Paris Agreement.  It was realized that the progress was slow across all areas – from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to strengthening resilience to a changing climate to getting financial and technological support to vulnerable countries. Major decisions at the meet were: 1. signaling the ‘beginning of the end’ for the fossil fuel era 2. New funding for loss and damage 3. Enhancing global efforts to strengthen resilience 4. Linking climate action with nature conservation 5. Ramping up practical climate solutions and ‘Enhancing transparency framework’ as ground for new era of implementing the Paris Agreement.

COP MEETINGS:

It is amply clear from the directives starting from Paris Agreement 2015 (COP 21) till the recent COP 29 that no visible change in the climate was noticed.  Instead, the global temperature rise which continued as was acknowledged in the Glasgow meeting seems to have worsened because of either slow progress or no concrete action.  The new terminologies like, decarbonization, carbon-neutral and net-zero reflect that they are fancy words as the world’s climate got compounded due to Ukraine war, rising coal output and increasing energy prices (together termed as ‘Trilemma’).  Add to this, lack of investment in technology innovation (due to lack of funds); permission/licensing barriers for new projects and lack of policy or government support.

COP-29 clearly spelt out, “Triple finance to developing countries to USD 300 billion annually by 2035; efforts of all actors to work together to scale up finance to developing countries”.

FUTURE AHEAD:

Looking at the Annual COP meetings closely, one gets a feeling that the meet decides on a few issues related to climate change and keep their fingers crossed to take stock of the progress in the ensuing meetings.  Imagine the re-emphasis of Paris Agreement of COP 21 at the COP 28^th meeting which indicates the inaction for over eight consecutive years and to realize that funding was the primary constrain in COP 29.

‘Trilemma’ that the world is facing today has in fact, complicated the climate change crisis so much that we have failed to understand the strategies to re-orient to the new changes that the world is facing today.  Does the target date pushing help in any way? – 2030 target shifted to 2035 in COP 29 meeting when we are unable to comprehend the crucial changes that may take place in the gap from now (2025-2030) and 2030-2035. 

A k Shyam 373 Canarabank Layout First Main First Cross Vidyaranyapura Post BENGALURU – 560097, Karnataka, India. E-mail: akshay1948@gmail.com