The climate conference will be held in Baku this year.Image: trapezoid
The World Climate Conference COP29 opens in Baku today. We answer the most important questions.
The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11 to 22, 2024.
Political representatives from about 200 countries will start negotiations on how to continue implementing the Paris Climate Agreement from Monday.
Here's what you want to know about COP29.
What is COP29?
The United Nations Baku Climate Conference, also known as COP29, is being held in Azerbaijan for the first time. About 40,000 representatives from about 200 countries, including more than 100 heads of state and government, will meet from November 11 to 24. The designated chairman of this year’s conference is Azerbaijan’s Environment Minister Mukhtar Babayev.
Who doesn’t attend the meeting?
Although nearly every country in the world is participating in the Baku meeting, many important figures will be absent. For example, US President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian Lula da Silva, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Justin Trudeau. However, their countries still sent representatives to Baku.
US President Joe Biden will not travel to Baku in person. Image: trapezoid
Why is COP29 held in Azerbaijan?
Azerbaijan has made a controversial choice to host the World Climate Summit. On the one hand, the authoritarian country has been criticized for its conflict with Armenia and poor human rights conditions, while on the other, Azerbaijan generates revenue from the export of fossil fuels. This has also been criticized by activists, who believe that Azerbaijan is hosting COP29 to clear its reputation.
The location of the summit rotates among the five United Nations country groups: African States, Asia-Pacific States, Latin America-Caribbean States, Eastern European States and Western Europe-North America-Australia. In 2024 it will be the turn of the Eastern European countries (including the Caucasus countries Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan). Although Bulgaria was also interested in hosting COP29, it was blocked by Russia. So in the end the contract went to Baku.
Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Environment and President-elect of the Climate Summit. Image: trapezoid
What is the goal of the climate conference?
Financial aspects will be the main focus of the Baku meeting.
In 2009, the Copenhagen Conference committed to providing US$100 billion in financial support to developing countries every year starting from 2020 to combat climate change.
The $100 billion has been a source of controversy ever since. Industrialized countries have long failed to live up to their promises, viewing the 2009 agreement more as guidance than stated goals.
COP26 announced approximately $80 billion in support for 2019. According to official forecasts from the OECD, it will take until 2022 to break through the 100 billion mark. This has led to dissatisfaction in developing countries and a lack of trust in industrialized countries.
Participants now want to set new financial targets for aid to developing countries by November 22, which will be implemented from 2025. In addition to government funding, private investment should also flow into climate finance.
Non-governmental organizations such as WWF and the Alliance of the South, or emerging countries that are particularly affected, are asking for (at least) ten times the current contribution, or about a trillion dollars. “It is clear that the new financing targets confirmed at COP29 require completely different dimensions than those currently implemented,” said Laurent Matile of Alliance Sud.
The United States also (still) thinks so. The Biden administration wrote in a statement that “it is widely agreed that the financial needs to achieve the Paris Agreement will exceed US$1 trillion.” The document also stated that “support goals should be ambitious and effective,” and that all parties involved should action should exceed $100 billion.
What role does Switzerland play?
In Baku, Switzerland will work to increase the number of donor countries investing in global climate protection. All countries should “do all they can” to finance investments in climate protection, especially “rich countries with high greenhouse gas emissions”.
The Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU) announced the news ahead of the meeting. Responding to a request from the Keystone-sda news agency, Bafou noted that it was no longer just industrialized countries that should pay, but also countries such as China and Saudi Arabia.
There are also plans to adopt rules for the implementation of global market mechanisms in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku. As recently announced by the Federal Council, this mechanism will allow countries to implement climate protection projects abroad and count the emission reductions achieved towards their climate goals.
Federal Councilor Albert Rosti will travel to Baku. Image: KEYSTONE
Where are the stumbling blocks?
Various geopolitical factors may negatively impact successful negotiations at this year’s COP, such as:
- Eliminate development aid: Many donor countries have tightened national budgets and development aid funding has been cut. In recent years, climate protection, and in particular the willingness to invest in climate protection, has declined.
- War and Crisis: This year's climate summit will also be overshadowed by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. This is why many important heads of state are staying away from climate summits.
- Industrialized countries are less willing: The plan initially stipulated that industrialized countries would be primarily responsible for providing financial resources. But as time goes by, major countries such as the United States, the European Union and Switzerland will become less willing to accept this easily. Other countries and emerging economies such as China, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are also increasingly contributing to rising emissions. Therefore, various industrial countries require these countries to make financial contributions as well. But this claim has so far been rejected by the affected countries.
- Extreme weather: Storms are increasingly causing severe economic damage. The Climate Damage and Loss Fund was established two years ago. However, as environmental groups stress, the approximately $700 billion pledged in this context is far from enough. Recent examples such as the extreme storms in Spain or the hurricanes in the United States show that we will have to expect greater economic losses in the future due to climate change.
- Donald Trump: Many fear that the global fight against global warming will suffer a serious setback in the long term with the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president. The 78-year-old repeatedly stressed during the campaign that climate policy in the world's second-largest emitter would change across the board under his leadership. Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement is very likely. It's unclear what the impact would be if the United States abdicated its responsibility.
Trump repeatedly promised during the campaign that U.S. climate policy would change across the board under his leadership.Photo credit: AP/AP
Appeal from UN climate change chief Simon Steel
UN climate change chief Simon Steel warned at the opening of the climate summit:
“We cannot leave Baku without a reasonable outcome.”
“We should say goodbye to the idea that climate finance is a handout,” Steele said. “Ambitious new climate financing targets are entirely in every country’s self-interest, even the largest and richest.”
According to calculations by the United Nations, world temperatures will now rise between 2.6 and 3.1 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. This would make much of the planet uninhabitable. The agreed goal is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.
This year, the earth's temperature has exceeded 1.5 degrees for the first time. However, the 1.5-degree target is not yet considered to have been missed, as long-term averages are decisive for this. But time is of the essence, and achieving the goals will largely depend on decisions at COP29.
21 pictures to show you how beautiful nature is
1/23
21 pictures to show you how beautiful nature is
Caves in Vatnajökull (Iceland), the largest glacier outside the polar regions. Image: shutterstock
'It's about melancholy' – How climate change is transforming Swiss mountains
Video: Watson
You may also be interested in:
Chisinau leaders protested against a violation of their airspace after two Russian drones were spotted in eastern Moldova. According to Moldovan media reports, the two drones, which did not have explosive devices, were discovered after recent Russian drone attacks in neighboring Ukraine. Foreign Minister Mikhail Popsoy wrote on Platform “
