COP29 Key Outcomes and Challenges

This article by Arvind Kumar brings to us the major takeaways from the COP29. The author establishes how climate finance is the prerequisite for the effective realization of the ambitious climate action.

-  Arvind Kumar

Azerbaijan hosted in its capital Baku, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) during 11–22 November 2024, with a strong focus on climate finance. Focus of the COP29 was on two main pillars—climate finance and ambitious climate action, in alignment with the Paris Agreement goals. Key topics included finance, transparency, loss and damage, and carbon credits (Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement). It also covered review of the Global Stocktake findings, with particular attention on adaptation, mitigation, and just transition. Nearly 200 Parties were in attendance to accelerate progress towards keeping global warming below 1.5°C.

The COP29 was the second of three consecutive COPs intended to act as a course correction to global climate action, to enable the achievement of the legally binding obligations set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Under the Paris Agreement, Parties are required to take stock of the success of its implementation, considering progress towards limiting emissions and greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations to prevent a global temperature increase of greater than 1.5°C.

The COP28, held in Dubai, in the year 2023, marked the conclusion of the first global stocktake (GST), the results of which indicated that while 'progress has been made towards the Paris Agreement goals...these efforts are...insufficient and...the world is not on track to meet the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement'. One of the main outputs of the COP28 was the UAE Consensus, intended to set out a plan enabling parties to meet the Paris Agreement’s targets. The UAE Consensus is notable for including ‘unprecedented’ language touted as signalling the ‘beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era’.