This year’s U.N. climate summit delivered a deal on climate finance two days past deadline, after two weeks of tense negotiations.
Here are some of the takeaways from the COP29 summit held in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku:
CASH FOR CLIMATE REMAINS TIGHT
The summit’s main agenda item – setting a new annual target for global climate finance – had nations wrangling for two weeks. Even after reaching a deal for $300 billion a year by 2035, many developing countries said the amount was far too low.
They also warned that the deadline for a decade away in 2035 would hold back the world’s transition to clean energy.
Some including India also lambasted wealthy nations for seeking to include contributions by developing countries in the annual target.
TRUMP TAMPS THE MOOD
Though he has yet to take office, climate denier Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election soured the mood at COP29.
Trump has vowed to remove the United States from global climate efforts, and has appointed another climate skeptic as his energy secretary.
Trump’s election meant the U.S. could offer little at COP29, despite being the world’s biggest historical polluter and most responsible for climate change. It also curtailed ambitions on the finance target, with the world’s biggest economy unlikely to contribute.
GREEN LIGHT FOR CARBON CREDITS
After nearly a decade of efforts to establish a rulebook for carbon credits, COP29 reached a deal to allow countries to begin establishing these credits to bring in funding and offset their emissions, or to trade them on a market exchange.
There are still some smaller details to be worked out, such as the registry’s structure and transparency obligations. But proponents hoped the boost to carbon offsetting will help draw billions of dollars into new projects to help the climate fight.
COP PROCESS IN DOUBT
Despite years of ballyhooed climate agreements, countries raised alarms about the fact that both greenhouse gas emissions and global temperatures are still rising.
Countries have been hit by increasingly extreme weather, making clear that the pace of progress hasn’t been fast enough to prevent a climate crisis.
This year is on track to be the warmest ever on record, with evidence of climate impacts spiraling faster than expected.
Widespread flooding has killed thousands and left millions hungry across Africa; deadly landslides have buried villages in Asia. Drought in South America has shrunk rivers – vital transport corridors – and livelihoods. And rain-triggered floods in both Spain and the United States have killed hundreds of people while wiping out billions in economic value.
TRADE TENSIONS TO THE FORE
Developing countries pushed hard at COP29 to open discussions about climate-related trade barriers, arguing that that their ability to invest in greening their economy was undermined by costly trade policies imposed by the world’s wealthiest economies.
In focus was Europe’s planned carbon border tax (CBAM). But equally worrying is the prospect of Trump introducing broad tariffs on all imports.
The the U.N. climate body agreed to add the issue to future summit agendas.
FOSSIL FUEL INTERESTS
This year’s COP was the third in a row to be held in a fossil fuel producing country, with both the OPEC secretary general and the president of host country Azerbaijan telling the summit that oil and gas resources were “a gift from God.”
In the end, the summit failed to set steps for countries to build on last year’s COP28 pledge to transition away from fossil fuels and triple renewable energy capacity this decade.
Many negotiators saw that as a failure – and a sign that fossil fuel interests were overpowering climate talks.
(Reuters)