COP29 Baku: What is on the agenda?

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – the annual U.N. climate summit – has kicked off in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku. This is the final COP before the February 2025 deadline to update nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, the most significant aspect of which, is the historic COP28 decision to phase out fossil fuels.

Sultan Al-Jaber – the COP28 President – opened the 29th session with a special message of motivation, and hope. As a state in central and eastern Europe, Azerbaijan holds the presidency of COP this year. Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Mukhtar Babayev was chosen as the 29th session’s President.

With its slogan ‘In Solidarity for a Green World’, the conference is set to take the international effort towards responsible climate action forward. The ten day summit will see global leaders from the public and private sectors deliberate on and compel action around climate resilience, energy transition, and sustainability targets. Close to 200 countries are in attendance.

What’s on the Agenda?

Apart from taking stock of ongoing projects, loss and damage associated with climate change and measures for prevention of climate-change-associated destruction, the session will focus on climate finance. The summit will negotiate a new climate finance fund – the NCQG or the New Collective Quantified Goal. Simon Stiell, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, commented on the matter and said, “we must agree a new global climate finance goal. If at least two thirds of the world’s nations cannot afford to cut emissions quickly, then every nation pays a brutal price. If nations can’t build resilience into supply chains, the entire global economy will be brought to its knees. No country is immune.” Conversations on climate finance at the summit emphasise its inclusive benefits and that it may not be considered charity by those contributing to it and those receiving it.

The COP will also discuss long-term climate finance, as well as annual reports of the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environmental Facility. Other important elements on the agenda include sustainable transformation and green growth; decarbonisation and energy transition; gender and climate change; dialogue on mountains and climate change; capacity-building; finalising rules for carbon trading under Article 6; AI, technology and climate impact; technology transfer; and matters relating to the least developed countries.

Apart from negotiating a new annual climate finance target of up to $1 trillion, it hopes to achieve some other tangible results as well – a deal to get multilateral carbon credit markets working, and an increase in financial aid to countries hit by severe and costly climate disasters. The summit will also establish a regional centre for climate change technologies in Central Asia.

The international context

The summit takes place while the world is in chaos with a war in Ukraine, and a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. At the same time, keeping in mind his dismissive attitude towards climate change, Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections has put a dampener on the spirit on climate talks. Trump has also repeatedly threatened to pull out of the Paris Agreement.

India at COP29

At the national level, since Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav will both be absent, India’s presence and participation will be subdued. Unlike previous years, India will also not be hosting a pavilion at this COP. The 19-member Indian delegation is being led by Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change Kirti Vardhan Singh.

A shift in India’s position has to do with its struggle to balance its commitment to climate action with its rising energy demands amidst high economic growth. This also comes at a time when global attention is slowly shifting to growing economies to take a lead in reducing emissions.

While the general impression of this year’s annual conference lacks the gusto erstwhile associated with COPs in the past, the coming days may still yield some important contributions to the climate action discourse, especially in context of CDR or common but differentiated responsibilities.