CONFERENCE OF PARTIES [COP 29]


Author: Monica R Sastra Deemed University


ABSTRACT

The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC or COP29, took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11–22, 2024. Samir Nuriyev led the organizing committee, while Mukhtar Babayev served as the president.
An agreement on financial strategies to lessen the consequences of climate change and assist developing countries in switching to more sustainable energy sources marked the end of the summit. It was decided to establish regulations and a UN registry to track and enable global carbon credit trading.


INTRODUCTION

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s member nations evaluate progress, negotiate agreements, and strengthen commitments to fight climate change during the annual Conference of Parties. Reviewing national communications and emission inventories (such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)) submitted by Parties is a major responsibility of the COP. In November 2025, COP 30 will take place in Belém, Brazil.


The meeting is attended by the 198 Parties to the Convention. Other participants include “observers,” which include the Palestinian territories, the Vatican City State, and mostly international organizations. There will also be representation from thousands of non-governmental organizations. In collaboration with the host nation, the UNFCCC secretariat organizes the conferences.


PARIS AGREEMENT
At COP21 in the French capital in 2015, the Parties ratified this legally binding agreement. Because it includes a clear, shared climate action goal—namely, to keep global warming to less than two degrees Celsius and, if at all feasible, less than 1.5 degrees. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which each nation must set and submit at regular intervals, are national climate targets that the international community has been working toward since then. Until emissions of greenhouse gases are sufficiently reduced to enable the management of climate change, the NDCs will continue to grow in ambition.


OBJECTIVE
With an emphasis on the urgent need for investment in climate action, COP29 planned to implement further measures to limit global warming to 1.5°.In addition to urging the submission of national NDCs by 2025, with a focus on fossil fuel phase-out, increasing renewable energy, and addressing non-carbon-dioxide emissions, such as methane, the COP29.


The Presidency stressed the need to scale up adaptation financing and called on all nations to create and submit their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by 2025. The corporate sector and international financial institutions were also urged by COP29 to boost climate finance and stimulate investment in green technologies. In order to assist climate action, the conference sought to offer venues for enlisting business engagement and improving transparency in investment choices.


Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing resilience to the effects of climate change, encouraging sustainable behaviors, and putting policies and measures in place to move toward low-carbon economies are among COP’s top goals.


From signing international agreements and advancing national policies that launch local climate-friendly projects to supporting individual-level initiatives that have the potential to lessen the effects of climate change through the adoption of creative yet practical technologies that guarantee financial resilience, COP’s climate action program covers a wide range of activities.


WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION REPORT
With the first nine months of 2024 more than 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, the World Meteorological Organization predicts that it will be the hottest year on record. The Antarctic sea ice is at its second-lowest level ever, glacier loss is rising globally, and the last ten years have also been the hottest on record.
Massive economic and human losses are being caused by extreme weather and climate events; millions of people throughout the world are being impacted by droughts, floods, and storms. Livelihoods, especially those in the agricultural sector, have been significantly impacted by the growing frequency and severity of significant floods and dry spells.
Global warming is progressing far more quickly than previously thought, according to a new announcement by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In the absence of more determined efforts, the WMO predicts that the critical 1.5-degree threshold will be surpassed as early as 2028.


CLIMATE FINANCE
which focuses on increasing funding for developing nations to address climate effects and make the transition to low-carbon economies, was regarded as a key subject during COP29. Negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate financing, which would establish a new financial target to assist developing nations after 2025, expanding on the prior $100 billion yearly commitment, were a major item on the agenda.Debt-for-nature swaps, which would enable nations to redirect debt repayments into environmental and climate programs, and blended finance, which merged public and private investments to increase funding for climate efforts, were two suggested remedies.


The Asian Development Bank announced $7.2 billion in additional investments and a $3.5 billion adaptation program aimed at addressing glacial melting in Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus, while multilateral development banks, including the World Bank and European Investment Bank, committed to increasing climate-related lending to $120 billion annually for low- and middle-income countries. A $75 billion bond issuance scheme on the London Stock Exchange was started by the Climate Investment Funds, while non-profit investor Acumen committed $300 million for agricultural adaptation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.Nearly $1.2 billion was also pledged by the Association of Banks of Azerbaijan to aid in the nation’s low-carbon transformation. During the meeting, world leaders approved a crucial framework outlined in Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, which creates a body supported by the UN to oversee global carbon credit trading. It is anticipated that the ruling would release billions of dollars in climate funding, mostly for developing nations.


In order to enable poor nations access broader economic resources to address emissions and climate catastrophes, delegations also agreed on a plan that would require wealthier nations to provide $300 billion annually in climate finance by 2035. Poorer countries, however, denounced the sum as inadequate, with several calling for a minimum $500 billion goal. Despite being viewed as a modest move, the agreement was criticized by some, including UN officials, as a betrayal since it did not include required payments for developing nations like China.


Developed economies like the US and the EU had demanded should have been contributed by default by more resource-rich nations like China and the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the proportion of funding derived from public budgets, where developing nations had demanded large increases in public, non-loan grants. Climate financing would come from both public and private sources, according to the final $300 billion agreement, which also encouraged emerging nations, notably China and the Middle East, to make voluntary contributions.


INDIA’S STANCE
The equity frame India’s position on climate financing is based on the idea of “common but differentiated responsibilities,” which emphasizes that developed countries have a higher duty because of their wealth and resources. India demanded more funding and implementation assistance for important agenda issues including GST, just transition, and mitigation. A financial choice will determine whether India submits its NDC the next year.
Adoption of NCQG: India has voiced its profound dissatisfaction with the NCQG’s current form and structure, which was adopted without consulting it.


It raised severe concerns about the manner the COP29 president and Secretariat were completed, sacrificing trust and cooperation and going against the UNFCCC’s norm on a topic that was created by the industrialized north but disproportionately impacts poor nations. The
Additionally, it stated that the NCOG anticipates resource mobilization from the poor globe.


Encourage the NDC’s ambition and implementation: India thinks that the little cash amount will have an effect on the NDC’s ambition and execution. To effectively combat climate change, developed nations must make adequate, easily accessible, and reasonably priced funding available, either via grants or long-term, low-interest loans.


NET ZERO TARGET
As part of the Paris Agreement, India has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. This pledge highlights the necessity of striking a balance between sustainable practices and development goals.


RENEWABLE ENERGY
India exhibits its proactive attitude to sustainable energy through programs such as the International Solar Alliance (ISA).


NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS
India has revised its NDCs, establishing challenging targets such as obtaining 50% of its energy from renewable sources and reducing the carbon intensity of GDP by 45% by 2030.

LIFESTYLE FOR ENVIRONMENT
India supports the LiFE project, which encourages ecologically conscious living and sustainable consumption habits worldwide.


ISSUES FACED IN THE EVENT
In order to come to an agreement on important topics, COP 29 has faced a number of difficulties. Some of the current issues and advancements at the summit are listed below.


DEADLOCK ON CLIMATE FINANCE
Concerns about the failure to reach the promised $100 billion in climate money per year have been raised by developing nations. The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is still a controversial topic since industrialized countries have not committed enough to it.


IMPLEMENTATION PROBLEMS
Even while states have committed to achieving net-zero emissions, there are still large implementation and ambition disparities, especially between wealthy and poor countries.


PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND YOUTH ACTIVISM
Criticizing the glacial pace of discussions and the impact of fossil fuel interests on the summit’s procedures, youth groups throughout the world have intensified their calls for swift and decisive climate action.


CONCLUSION

The developed nations of the Global North must increase the amount  of climate finance just as much as the developing nations of the Global South, which are expected to increase the ambition of their NDCs for greenhouse gas mitigation and guarantee their successful implementation. Sincere attempts must also be made to create a logical structure for climate financing that guarantees poor countries enough, easily accessible, and reasonably priced assistance.


SOURCES

https://unfccc.int/

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