A tough climate

COP29 is not expected to yield much progress

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This year may have been the hottest on record, but the Conference of Parties (COP29) meeting at Baku is expected to generate much heat and little light on the way forward for the climate-change agenda. The problems begin with the host nation. Azerbaijan's heavy dependence on fossil fuel, the chief cause of climate change, makes it a poor exemplar for the issue at hand. Second, the world's most critical players—the United States, the European Union, and Brazil (and host for COP30 next year)—are expected to stay on the sidelines. The minister for environment, forest, and climate change for India, the world's third-largest fossil-fuel emitter, is also unlikely to attend, and the country does not have an official pavilion at the venue. Third, the meeting takes place under the shadow of Donald Trump's impending accession to the White House, when the US will exit, yet again, the UN's Framework of Climate Change negotiations under which COP meetings are held. With the world's second-largest emitter and key source of climate finance o