CONFERENCE of the Parties (COP) is the highest policy-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Since the creation of the UNFCCC at the Rio Conference in 1992, the COP has held an annual conference to review progress in response to climate change and discuss commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These conferences bring every country under one roof. The first COP conference was held in Berlin, Germany, from March 2 to April 7, 1995, where decisions were taken on joint initiatives to combat global climate change. The Paris Agreement was recommended based on the opinions of 196 countries at the COP21 conference on climate change of the United Nations. The agreement agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by about 43 per cent by 2030, and how to get carbon emissions to zero by 2050 is discussed. In line with that, at the historic COP28 in Dubai, we secured a Loss and Damage Fund that will fund affected countries by 2026.
COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, is expected to bring major progress in climate finance adaptation and global assessment (global stocktake) under the Paris Agreement. Top leaders from around 200 countries will come together at COP29 to address the global climate crisis. The main goal of this year鈥檚 conference is to find ways to provide more financial support to poor countries suffering from the climate crisis.
The world鈥檚 developing countries need about $1 billion a day to deal with the effects of today鈥檚 extreme weather, with just 1.3 degrees Celsius of warming, according to a report by the UN Environment Program, UNEP, released on Thursday. They are actually getting less than a tenth of that, about $75 million a day. UN Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres put it in typically stark terms: 鈥楥limate disaster is the new reality and we鈥檙e not waking up to it. The climate crisis is here and we cannot put off taking action. We have to adapt, and now.鈥� He noted that while adaptation funding is falling far short of what is needed, the purveyors of all this destruction 鈥� especially the fossil fuel industry 鈥� are reaping huge profits and subsidies.
The worst part is that the worst impacts of the climate crisis are growing even faster when adaptation funding is increasing 鈥� from $22 billion in 2021 to $28 billion in 2022, said Henry Neufeldt, lead author of the UNEP report.
The summit鈥檚 president-elect, Mukhtar Babayev, called COP29 a 鈥榤oment of truth for the Paris Agreement鈥�. 鈥榃e are on the verge of destruction, but these are not future problems,鈥� he said. Climate change is already upon us. He feels COP29 is an unexpected moment to start a new path for everyone.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said in his speech at the opening plenary that Stiell hails from Carriacou on the island of Grenada, which was pummelled by Hurricane Beryl in July. He showed a photograph of himself standing with an elderly neighbour, Florence, whose home was flattened by the storm. The UN negotiations can feel far away from environmental disasters harming people like those in Florence, yet the climate crisis is affecting every single person in the world in some way, driving up energy bills, fuelling global instability, and taking lives, he says. Among the main priorities at COP29 will be setting a new global financial target, finalising carbon market rules and pledging to reduce planet-wide pollution, he noted.
Outgoing UAE COP President Sultan Al Jaber gave brotherly advice to incoming COP President Mukhtar Babayev of Azerbaijan: 鈥楶ut deeds above words. History will judge us by our actions, not our words.鈥� He also said the voluntary industry initiative, the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter, now has companies representing 44 per cent of global production committing to zero methane emissions by 2030. Whether there are any signs that the move to 鈥榯ransition away鈥� from fossil fuels is being implemented could come with the release of the 2024 global carbon budget on Wednesday.
鈥楾he climate crisis is getting worse every year and it seems like every year we have another fossil fuel company using the climate talks to get more oil and gas deals,鈥� said Patrick Galey, senior fossil fuel investigator at Global Witness. The State Oil Company, SOCAR, has signed 25 agreements with foreign companies in vulnerable countries that depend on COP for their survival to secure a path to their future. SOCAR鈥檚 goal to produce massive amounts of oil and gas over decades directly contradicts the stated goals of the UN climate talks. This conflict of interest is slowing down progress towards curbing climate disruption. Big polluters should not have a place in this discussion. We must get them out of this discussion before it鈥檚 too late.
According to Carbon Brief鈥檚 Dr Simon Evans, the opening plenary has been halted to discuss the draft agenda, which includes some contentious issues. Among these contentious issues is the EU鈥檚 Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, a type of carbon tax, which has long been under discussion and last year鈥檚 attempt to get it onto the agenda failed.
Allie Rosenbluth, co-manager of climate NGO Oil Change International, said at a press conference that Donald Trump鈥檚 re-election in the US was 鈥榯errible鈥� news for the climate movement. Trump rolled back dozens of environmental regulations during his first term. He pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord 鈥� something he has vowed to do again. Trump鈥檚 impending role could pose a major hurdle to US climate action plans and climate finance commitments.
About 20 million people in Bangladesh will be displaced from their current habitats by 2050 and 13 per cent of the country鈥檚 coastal area could be lost under seawater by 2080 if urgent action is not taken to prevent the negative effects of climate change. Industrialised nations have pledged to contribute $100 billion annually by 2025. But they haven鈥檛 kept their word since 2015. Although $20 billion is needed every year from 2020 to 2030, Bangladesh has so far received only $710 million from international sources, which is only 2鈥�3 per cent of the money pledged at the Paris COP. But we can get from this COP an effective reflection of the commitment we got at COP28 held in Dubai in 2023 for the Loss and Damage Fund, which will finance the affected countries by 2026. I believe that we will take the necessary steps to get a loss and damage fund from this COP.
听
Dr Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder is a professor of environmental science and dean of faculty of science, Stamford University Bangladesh. He is also joint secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon and chairman, Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies.
