From November 11th to 22nd, 198 parties met in Azerbaijan for the 29th Conference of the Parties. As hosts of the conference, Azerbaijanâs main objective, as it is with all of the parties, is to avoid global warming above 1.5â while maintaining Azerbaijanâs pillars regarding âenhancing ambitionâ through commitment to climate goals and âenabling actionâ through green finance.
Achievements
- As part of the new collective quantified goal on climate finance agreed upon at COP21, developed countries are expected to raise $300 billion to finance developing countries. This has been raised from the original goal of $100 billion and allows for contributions from developing countries. For the first time, these goals were solidified in quantitative numbers along with a larger goal of $1.3 trillion from multiple streams of funding.
- A decade-long discussion on carbon credits came to a close with a final framework on how to use, gain, and trade carbon credits.
- By the end of this year, all members will be required to submit their Biennial Transparency Reports which will provide clear data on progress towards Nationally Determined Contributions, financing, and other climate goals.
- The Lima Work Programme on Gender and Climate Change has been extended for another 10 years which will keep gender inequalities in consideration of the climate crisis and climate solutions.
Uncertainties
- Donald Trump as current US president-elect has claimed that he will once again withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement which will remove a large sum of green funding.
- Discussions were had, as per goals from COP28, on how to account for the global stocktake and whether or not the transition away from fossil fuels should be considered as the measurements of the global stocktake alongside financial measurements. A draft came through including the fossil fuel detransition, but was ultimately removed at the last minute.
- With the developed countries now expected to raise $300 billion, questions came into discussion on whether or not the climate disaster loss and damage fund would be covered by this fund. It was previously not covered when the fund goal was $100 billion.
- The conference ended with little discussion on the just transition work program. This program was introduced at COP28 and would have given more protections to ensure less inequality during the sustainability transition.
Conclusion
The biggest achievement of this conference was tripling the funding for less developed countries. This will hopefully allow for faster and more equitable green development in the global south.