Cop29

Cop29 negotiations aren’t moving fast enough. The Pacific is running out of time

A week into Cop29 negotiations, we’re not moving fast enough – or anywhere for that matter – on some key issues.

Climate finance, or more specifically the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) to replace the current $100bn a year goal, and the work to operationalise the loss and damage fund, are key expected outcomes here in Baku.

The multilateral process is important. However, as a citizen of a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), and the president of Palau, the pace with which these negotiations are moving can sometimes feel agonisingly frustrating.

The importance of these issues to Pacific countries cannot be understated. Around the world, conversations on global security often revolve around invasions, acts of terrorism and threats to peace. For us, the climate crisis is our invasion. It’s a relentless, unyielding force that attacks our food security, our economy, our culture and our very existence.

We want to access sufficient, predictable, grants-based climate finance to address our climate change needs and priorities. These climate finance mechanisms should be scalable, contextual, flexible and predictable.

The reality is that we don’t have time. We are battling an enemy that strikes hardest at those who have contributed the least to global warming, marine pollution and environmental degradation.

In Palau, the sea that once brought life and abundance now creeps closer each day, reclaiming coastlines, submerging taro farms and jeopardising ways of life that we have practised for a millennium. Like many SIDS, Palau stands on the frontline of the climate crisis, grappling with rising temperatures, dwindling marine life and an uncertain future.

Palau, along with all SIDS, has long been recognised by the international community, long before Paris 2015, as a “special case” or a group whose unique needs and concerns must be addressed. Though we are among the least responsible for climate change, we suffer the most from its immediate effects.

This is what makes SIDS a special case requiring the help and attention of the international community to limit greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

The Paris agreement, signed in 2015, formally acknowledges these special circumstances, pledging to keep global warming “well below 2C” and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C. Science tells us that exceeding this 1.5C threshold would mean catastrophic consequences for SIDS – a future that we in the Pacific cannot imagine.

This is why, at Cop29 in Azerbaijan, Palau and other Pacific SIDS will continue to amplify our One Pacific Voice, demanding the respect and support that the climate change convention and the Paris agreement promised. As incoming chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Palau will stand firm against any efforts to dilute the recognition of our special circumstances.

Cop29 is not just another meeting. It’s a vital opportunity for meaningful dialogue and collaboration that leads to action-real, measurable support for SIDS. Our fight against the climate crisis is a call for collective action, a plea for the world to stand together. We ask that our global community upholds the commitments made to SIDS, recognises our unique vulnerabilities and helps us forge a path to a sustainable future.

The time for decisive action is now.

China and India should not be called developing countries, several Cop29 delegates say

China and India should no longer be treated as developing countries in the same way as some of the poorest African nations are, according to a growing number of delegates from poorer country at the Cop29 UN climate talks.

China should take on some additional responsibility for providing financial help to the poorest and most vulnerable, several delegates told the Guardian. India should not be eligible for receiving financial help as it has no trouble attracting investment, some said.

Balarabe Abbas Lawal, Nigeria’s environment minister, said: “China and India cannot be classified in the same category as Nigeria and other African countries. I think they are developing but they are in a faster phase than states like Nigeria.

“They should also commit in trying to support us. They should also come and make some contribution [to climate finance for poorer countries].”

China and India are regarded as developing countries at the Cop29 climate talks, using classifications that date back to 1992 when the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC) was signed. That means they have no formal obligation to cut their greenhouse gas emissions or to provide financial help to poorer countries, and technically are eligible to receive climate aid, though China chooses not to do so.

“Those that actually deserve this support are African countries, poor Asian countries and small island states that are facing devastating climate change issues,” Lawal said.

His views were echoed by two other representatives from developing countries at the talks. An African negotiator said: “China, India, South Africa, Egypt: those countries should not be on the list of developing countries. In the framework, they have conditions to access funds, much more than us. They should be contributing.”

Susana Muhamad, the environment minister of Colombia, said: “The developed and developing country categories are obsolete. These categories should be changed. The problem is that the Paris agreement and the UNFCCC are negotiated on these categories.”

Nearly 200 governments are gathered in Azerbaijan for the second week of fortnight-long climate talks that are focused on how to give poor countries access to the $1tn a year they need to cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of extreme weather.

Progress has been slow as developed nations have been reluctant to put forward the cash needed, and rows have erupted over the global commitment to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

China is the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter and second biggest economy but is classed alongside some of the poorest countries in the world at the UN talks, and carries no obligation to provide financial help to the developing world.

India is now the world’s fifth largest economy by some measures but is still entitled to receive climate finance.

China and India have long been seen as leaders of the developing world at the annual climate summits, called conferences of the parties (Cops) under the UNFCCC, the parent treaty to the 2015 Paris agreement.

This year, however, questions over which countries are still developing have been thrown into sharp focus by the goal of this year’s talks, which is to forge a “new collective quantified goal” on climate finance.

Li Shuo, the director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a thinktank, said that for any countries to try to push China into contributing to climate finance on the same basis as developed countries would be counterproductive. “That would risk harming trust, and reinforcing divisions,” he said. “What we need is unity, and unity is starting to emerge at these talks.”

Christ, here we go again...

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Originally Posted by cyrille

Christ, here we go again...

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At least it's contained to one or two threads.

Cutting emissions of potent but short-lived greenhouse gas methane is 'emergency brake'

Slashing emissions of the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas methane is “our emergency brake”, the UN said today, as the Cop29 presidency announced a new drive to cut methane emissions from waste dumps.

Rotting food in landfills causes about 20% of human-related emissions of methane and the Guardian revealed in February that there have been more than 1000 huge leaks of the gas from landfills since 2019. Cutting methane from waste, fossil fuel sites and farming will rapidly stop global temperature rise and is essential to taming the climate crisis.

“Today, we are launching the Cop29 Reducing Methane from Organic Waste Declaration,” said Cop29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev. “This commits countries to creating targets on food waste within future [national climate pledges].”

“As of this morning, more than 30 countries representing almost 50% of the global methane emissions from organic waste have endorsed the declaration,” he said. “This includes eight of the world’s 10 largest emitters of methane from organic waste.” The endorsing countries include the US, UK, Nigeria, Brazil, Japan, Russia and Mexico.

“Reducing methane emissions this decade is our emergency brake in the climate emergency,” said Martina Otto, at the UN Environment Programme, which hosts the Global Methane Pledge through which almost 160 nations have pledged to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

She said there were several good reasons to cut food waste emissions, including trapping the gas to use it as an energy source and reusing the food waste as a protein source. “We also want to make sure we’re not losing food that could feed people and is instead feeding climate change,” she said. She called the new declaration “absolutely critical”.

On the leaders’ statement from the G20 summit, which my colleague Fiona Harvey covered earlier, Rafiyev said: “We appreciate the signal that they have sent - we now need to translate political will into practical work.” He also said the Cop29 presidency was working towards producing “a first iteration of a full draft tax” on the all-important climate finance goal by Wednesday evening.

The Guardian

S "methane" Landreth

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Slashing emissions of the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas methane is “our emergency brake”, the UN said today, as the Cop29 presidency announced a new drive to cut methane emissions from waste dumps.

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landreth, you deluded loon, it's very important that you and other cult followers understand who and just what these cop29 people are.

take ed miliband, the uk's energy and net zero secretary and our answer to donald duck.

by any conventional measure he's not a complete moron. so how do we explain his fanatical pursuit of policies that aren't just idiotic, but guaranteed suicidal in national terms?

we need to look at these peoples psychological foundations. milipede was the son of ralph miliband, a communist pro-soviet academic. his childhood was spent listening to daddy chat with other communist 'thinkers' and various revolutionaries from around the world sitting at the miliband kitchen table.

all these people have an unshakeable belief in their intellectual and moral superiority. it's not just that 'daddy' hated britain, the country is too small of a canvas for them. their worth is so immeasurable that they must save humanity. imagine, therefore, the psychological blow of watching the slow-motion car crash, then the subsequent rapid collapse of the soviet union, and the world laughing at communism.

it must have been almost unbearable, psychologically. the miliband children then throw themselves into 'pragmatic' politics with the euro commies of tony blairs new labour, but it must have been unsatisfying - it's such a 'waste' of their 'brilliance.'

then, like manner from heaven, along comes climate change, rain forests and the global south with their begging bowls.

a cause in which the full force of their hysterical leftist secular religiosity can be brought to bear to save the whole planet and ALL future generations of humans, and not just the bovine british and those dreadful flag-waving, white men.

and you think these people, receiving this psychological gift, are open to sensible policy debates on this issue?

dream on landreth.

Climate denier, did you read that in The Telegraph?

:doglol:

‘We must, must try’ – Maldives’ climate minister

The Maldives, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, is liable for just 0.003% of global emissions. But it is one of the first countries to endure the existential consequences of the climate crisis.

At Cop29, I caught up with Thoriq Ibrahim, the country’s minister of climate change, environment and energy, who is leading negotiations for the small island nation.

“We’re not causing climate change, it’s the developing countries that did that,” he said. “They did that to us, and we are not at all prepared.”

Cop29’s goal of adopting a new and expanded goal for climate finance to help vulnerable nations slash emissions and cope with climate disasters, is of particular importance to the Maldives. The last climate finance goal, adopted in 2009, did not allocate specific funding to small island developing states. Ibrahim says that must change.

“We must be allocated at least $39bn USD per year,” he said.

To ensure that money is accessible, he is also calling for the adoption of a multidimensional vulnerability index – a new way to measure countries’ climate need that considers not only their wealth, but also their vulnerability.

Last year, a “loss and damage fund” was created at Cop28 to help nations cope with irreversible climate damages. So far, wealthy countries’ contributions to that fund constitute a tiny fraction of what is needed.

It’s important for the Maldives to be able to access those monies quickly, said Ibrahim. His country could be completely swallowed by the rising seas by 2100 or sooner, research shows.

“Once our islands are destroyed, what do we have,” he asked. “We are in a special circumstance because of this major threat.”

At Cop29, Ibrahim is also demanding countries submit national climate action plans that are aligned with keeping global temperature rise less than 1.5C degrees higher than preindustrial temperatures. It’s a goal that many experts say has already been missed – or at best is on life support.

“Maybe we will go past that goal, overshoot it, and then bring the temperatures back down,” he said. “But the scientists say it’s possible to limit the warming, and so we must, must try.”

The Guardian

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The Maldives, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, is liable for just 0.003% of global emissions. But it is one of the first countries to endure the existential consequences of the climate crisis.

At Cop29, I caught up with Thoriq Ibrahim, the country’s minister of climate change, environment and energy, who is leading negotiations for the small island nation.

“We’re not causing climate change, it’s the developing countries that did that,” he said. “They did that to us, and we are not at all prepared.”

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another corrupt duplicitous global south "victim" with his "its all the wests fault" begging bowl on display. fuck them.

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“We must be allocated at least $39bn USD per year,” he said.

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what for?
to gold plate another disneyland inspired mosque, to send his wife on a shopping trip to dubai or to buy another rolls royce.

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THE INDIAN OCEAN’S most exquisite building must be the Old Friday Mosque in Malé, the capital of the Maldives. It was built in the 17th century from interlocking coral blocks. Inside, the carved-wood panelling and lacquerwork represent ravishing embellishments by master craftsmen who happily borrowed from Arabia, Persia and South Asia to make an art that was their own. Maldivians today are proud of their history as a maritime crossroads of culture and commerce. They say it informs their tiny atoll nation’s open-mindedness. So the recent smashing of some of the ornate tombs outside the mosque carried an ominous note—as if some people want to shatter the tolerance for which the Maldives is known and replace it with something more puritanical and austere.

A brutal realisation of that omen was the detonation of a bomb on May 6th that rocked the densely packed capital. Its target was the country’s best-known figure, Mohamed Nasheed. A political prisoner under the former dictator, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, he became the Maldives’ first democratically elected president in 2008 before being ousted in a coup. In 2018 he returned from self-exile after his ally, Ibrahim “Ibu” Mohamed Solih, won a presidential election that the authoritarian incumbent, Gayoom’s half-brother, Abdulla Yameen, tried but failed to rig. Mr Nasheed is now speaker of parliament.

Mr Nasheed was rushed to hospital and flown to Germany for further treatment (bodyguards and bystanders were also injured). Three alleged assailants have been arrested. They are said by the authorities to be tied to jihadist groups.

Strands of the Maldives’ traditional Sunni Islam have certainly hardened in recent years. Money from Saudi Arabia has made its way to Maldivian mosques, and with it a fundamentalist Salafist doctrine. More alarmingly, both al-Qaeda and Islamic State have been recruiting. In 2019 a presidential commission concluded that al-Qaeda was behind the disappearance of a liberal journalist five years earlier. Dozens of jihadists fighting in Syria with Islamic State have since sneaked home to Malé or the outlying atolls.

The Maldives has a population of less than 540,000. It does not take many troublemakers to cause mayhem. The attack on Mr Nasheed, who has long been a critic of fundamentalism, seemed intended to show what Islamists are capable of. Under-resourced, the government has called in Australian police to help investigate.

For many Maldivians, radical Islam is an alien toxin poisoning the domestic well. Yet that, argues Azim Zahir of the University of Western Australia, is to ignore home-grown sources of extremism. For one, the identity of the Maldives as a nation-state (it gained independence in 1965) is bound up with Islam. Sunni Islam is the state religion. Only Sunni Muslims may be citizens. Maldivians’ behaviour, says Mr Zahir, may appear to be modern and liberal, but the national identity is fused with religion. That makes it a lot easier for radical Islam to subvert the existing version.

Besides, to blame only outside forces is to ignore the social and political context of the growing fundamentalism. The Maldives promotes itself to the outside world as an island paradise of honeymooners’ resorts. In reality, the resorts have immense defects. Their owners form part of aweb of businessmen, politicians, judges and officials grown fat on political favours and lucrative deals.

A huge scandal at the tourism board under Mr Yameen involved the pilfering of tens of millions of dollars. Mr Solih promised to get to the bottom of it. Yet though Mr Yameen and his tourism minister have been convicted of money-laundering and other charges, few others implicated in the scandal have faced justice. Even members of Mr Solih’s own government appear tainted.

The resorts also trash coral reefs and generate seas of garbage. Above all, they epitomise a rentier economy which fails to address the needs of ordinary people. Schools are underfunded and youth unemployment stands at nearly a fifth.

That may explain why disillusion is high, says Asiath Rilweena of Transparency Maldives, an NGO, and so the ground fertile for radicalisation. Drug use and dealing only makes things worse, with radicalised Maldivians often having been members of gangs. The only occasion many politicians think about these disaffected groups is when employing them to put up campaign posters at election time. After the attack on Mr Nasheed, they must think harder.
THE ECONOMIST

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Paris to Baku good COP bad COP

Here are some useful numbers to bear in mind when it comes to the negotiations.

$5tn a year – that’s the amount that NGOs say would represent at least a downpayment on the amount that developed countries owe to the developing world for their historic greenhouse gas emissions. (Although don’t forget that the emissions of some large emerging economies are now so vast that they rival developed countries – China’s historic emissions are now greater than those of the EU.) This sum is achievable, through taxes on fossil fuels and high-carbon activities, NGOs say.

$3tn – the amount, roughly, likely to be spent on energy this year globally, according to the International Energy Agency. Of which two-thirds will be on clean energy, the remainder stubbornly still flowing to fossil fuels.

$2.4tn a year – the amount developing countries (excluding China) need to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the 1.5C goal of the Paris agreement, and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather, according to the International High Level Expert Group on climate finance, made up of senior global economists, led by Lord Stern, Vera Songwe and Amar Bhattacharya.

$1tn a year by 2030, $1.3tn a year by 2035 – the slice of the above $2.4tn that should be met by external finance. The remainder can come and is already coming from developing countries’ own domestic budgets.

$1tn to $1.4tn a year – the amount developing countries are demanding in climate finance from the developed world at Cop29.

$900bn a year – the amount that the Least Developed Countries and some other poor countries want to come in the form of public finance, preferably all or most of it in the form of grants rather than loans.

$300bn – the amount developed countries are likely to offer in public finance to the developing world.

$100bn – the amount of climate finance from public sources flowing from the developed to the developing world today.

There is a big gap between $300bn and $1tn. But, according to the IHLEG, this gap can be filled in various ways. They suggest that $500bn in climate finance should come from the private sector, which is willing to invest in renewable energy, electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies.

According to IHLEG, about $80bn to $100bn a year should come from bilateral finance – that is, money going directly from developed to developing countries. That would be roughly double the current amount. An additional $250bn should come from development banks, including the World Bank. That’s a stretch compared with the $120bn that the World Bank has just agreed to provide by 2030, which itself was a doubling on the previous amount (long derided as too small by developing countries).

The remainder could come from a mixture of South-South funding; innovative forms of finance, also known as global solidarity levies – that is, levies such as a wealth tax, a charge on fossil fuels, a frequent flyer levy and similar measures; arcane forms of finance such as the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights; carbon trading; and philanthropy.

The Guardian

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Originally Posted by S Landreth

Cutting emissions of potent but short-lived greenhouse gas methane is 'emergency brake'

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Will you be giving up the cattle ranch then?

You have the biggest carbon and methane footprint of anyone on the forum, hypocrite.

Cows and Climate Change | UC Davis.

^stop eating beef.

I don't eat it (for the most part)

Always dodging, aint you landreth.

’Hypocrite’ is bang on, ‘for the most part’.

:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by S Landreth

^stop eating beef.

I don't eat it (for the most part)

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I don't eat it that much either. But then again, I'm not the one calling everyone a climate denier while profiting off of one of the biggest methane producers in the agricultural world, am I. Hypocrite.

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Originally Posted by pickel

I'm not the one calling everyone a climate denier

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Not everyone. But I will call out a denier when I see one

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Originally Posted by S Landreth

Not everyone. But I will call out a denier when I see one

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And I'll call out a hypocrite when I see one. :)

Spamdreath is a laugh. Leave him be. Thinks he’s saving the planet with his cut and pastes on speed.

an idiot climate denier above who has failed in life

"Transformational NDCs are not Optional – They are Opportunities no Country Can Miss": Simon Stiell

Friends,

Earlier this year I said the next round of NDCs are the most important policy documents of this century. So why is that?

First, because they will be the final barricade for every nation in its fight-to-the-death against climate impacts getting more brutal each year.

And let's be clear: no nation is winning this fight. Every economy is being besieged by climate disasters, ripping up to 5 percent off GDP in some countries. And it’s people and businesses that are paying the heaviest price.

Yesterday was agriculture day, and we heard again that food production and supply chains are getting slammed by climate impacts, fueling inflation and hunger, in every country.

So I’ll be honest – it’s grim. Indeed, I’m often asked what gives me confidence that we can get this job done.

The answer is lots of things.

Quiet acts of solidarity, from people who get knocked down, but who refuse to stay down.

But there are also big things – the macro trends that aren't up for debate.

And there's none bigger than the global clean energy boom – set to hit two trillion dollars this year alone. And it's just getting started.

Money talks, and as we enter the second quarter of this century, it's saying loud and clear: there's no stopping the clean energy juggernaut, and the vast benefits it brings: stronger growth, more jobs, less pollution and inflation, cheaper and cleaner energy. The list of benefits goes on.

That's why we've seen two G20 countries – the UK and Brazil – signal clearly at the COP they plan to ramp up climate action in their NDCs 3.0 - because it's 100% in their economic interests to do so.

But – and it's a big but – right now these vast benefits are only achievable for some. Our job is to make them achievable for all.

To ensure every country can deliver a bold new national climate plan, covering all greenhouse gases and all sectors, aligned with the science of keeping 1.5 degrees within reach.

The NDC Partnership plays a crucial role here. I commend Pablo [Vieira, Global Director of the NDC Partnership Support Unit] and his team for their work. Your network has the expertise, the capacity to support Parties, addressing their unique needs. Coordinating support.

At the secretariat, we are gearing up to play our part in the crucial year ahead, working with the UN system – you heard me announce in my opening speech the Climate Plan Campaign which will help mobilise countries to deliver.

So I urge you all today – reaffirm and, where possible, strengthen your commitments.

Show the world that transformational NDCs are not optional – they are opportunities no country can miss.

I thank you, and I have to run!

https://unfccc.int/news/transformati...s-simon-stiell

The Cop29 presidency has issued a statement defending the draft text that came out overnight and which has received widespread criticism this morning for not containing a concrete figure for climate finance.

The statement says: “The next iteration - to be released tonight - will be shorter and will contain numbers based on our view of possible landing zones for consensus.”

Here it is in full:

The COP29 Presidency has published a first set of substantially streamlined texts on critical mandates, including the NCQG. These documents come as a package with finance at the centre, they recall and take forward the outcomes of the first Global Stocktake, and they contain options to address the key concerns of all groups.

They are not final. The COP29 Presidency’s door is always open, and we welcome any bridging proposals that the Parties wish to present. We are spending the day engaging with everyone.

On the NCQG, we did not believe that presenting a wide range of numbers for the financial goal would be useful in this text. The next iteration - to be released tonight - will be shorter and will contain numbers based on our view of possible landing zones for consensus.

We are now in the endgame and we believe that a breakthrough in Baku is in sight. Everyone must engage with the texts and with each other so that they are ready to make the ambitious choices we all need.

The Guardian

Poor nations may have to downgrade climate cash demands, ex-UN envoy says

Poor countries may have to compromise on demands for cash to tackle global heating, a former UN climate envoy has said, as UN talks entered their final hours in deadlock.

In comments that are likely to disappoint poorer countries at the Cop29 summit, Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and twice a UN climate envoy, said rich country budgets were stretched amid inflation, Covid and conflicts including Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“It’s finance, and it’s absolutely vital, and it’s the responsibility of the developed world,” she told the Guardian in an interview. “But you can’t squeeze what isn’t squeezable.”

Rich countries have yet to make any formal offer of finance to the poor world as of Thursday night, even as two weeks of talks stretched into their final official day on Friday. The summit is focused on finding $1tn (£790bn) a year for poor nations to shift to a low-CO2 economy and cope with the impacts of extreme weather.

But the rich world is expected to offer only about $300bn a year at most in public finance, far less than many developing countries hoped for. The developed world is likely to argue that the remainder of the $1tn can be made up from other sources, including private sector investment, carbon trading and potential new sources such as taxes on fossil fuels.

Robinson said $300bn should be “a minimum” and developed countries must also take steps to ensure that poor countries can access private sector finance and loans much more cheaply than at present, by “de-risking” finance for them. That could include giving guarantees for loans, which costs developed countries nothing but can make a big difference to gaining access to investment for the poor.

Many poor countries are asking for a much higher proportion of the $1tn to come from rich country’s budgets, rather than from the private sector or new taxes. The least developed countries bloc, for instance, said they wanted $900bn of the total to come from public finance.

Robinson said those ideas were “fine in principle, but not in the reality of government budgets”.

She conceded that this view would be controversial. “I think probably developing countries would say that’s too low,” said Robinson. “But in my view, with the other parts – the solidarity levies [such as fossil fuel taxes], the World Bank, and the private sector, you can get up to $1tn. That’s the point.

“That’s the world we live in. Budgets are stretched. The UK is playing a really good role, but they don’t have the money. We know it, you know, we all know. There’s no point trying to squeeze what is not squeezable.”

A core of finance from public sources of about $300bn, surrounded by other sources such as new taxes, carbon trading and private sector investment, is in line with an influential academic paper published by Nicholas Stern and other leading economists last week. TheIndependent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance found that about $500bn a year should come from private sector investment as part of $1tn for developing countries by 2030 and $1.3tn by 2035.

Developing countries were reluctant to comment as the negotiations are entering a crucial phase. Nevertheless, several civil society groups told the Guardian that developing countries should stick to their demands for more of the money to come from public sources.

Thato Gabaitse, a climate justice advocate for the Botswana chapter of the campaign group We, the World, said: “African countries have been clear on their $1.3tn ask. Out of that, $600bn would be provision and the rest mobilisation. Global north countries are showing a willingness to tip the scales, putting even more lives at risk in the global south and eroding the goodwill of global south countries. Keeping the process alive also means delivering finance without undermining the fundamentals of the Paris agreement. There is fatigue from the global south with the lack of ambition from rich countries. It’s time for the developed countries to put a future on the table and negotiate in good faith.”

Charlene Watson, a research associate at the ODI group, said developed countries should offer at least $500bn. “While less than what developing countries are asking for, a solid commitment of $500bn in highly concessional public finance – not in grant-equivalent terms, as the draft text suggests – could be the ‘landing zone’ we need to finalise the negotiations,” she said. “$500bn is robust enough – and enough of a statement – to mobilise the remainder up to that important $1tn mark.”

Robinson also said that China and other major economies still classed as developing must also pay towards climate finance. “It’s also the responsibility of the rich so-called developing countries [such as] China to take their responsibility properly. I know China does support developing countries, mainly with loans, but it needs to become more part of the way forward … in a way that’s transparent.”

Rich countries must also fulfil their responsibilities by agreeing deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, Robinson said. Only by doing so, as well as providing clear guarantees they will deliver the cash they promise, could they rebuild trust with the poor world, she said.

Relations between rich and poor nations were also strained, she said. “The trust is very fragile at the moment. There’s an anger, because the impacts of climate are much worse in the developing world,” she said. “The impact in poor countries is so devastating.”

On Thursday morning, the host country, Azerbaijan, published draft texts covering important aspects of the talks, but they were widely criticised as inadequate. The texts on a global financial settlement, called a new collective quantified goal, did not contain vital numbers such as the amount developed countries would be willing to contribute.

Other texts failed to reaffirm a vital commitment made last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”. Saudi Arabia and some of its allies have been pushing to remove such a reaffirmation from the outcome of Cop29.

New drafts of these texts, with the finance numbers included, are not expected until Friday afternoon. This is likely to push the conclusion of the talks into the weekend and into a race against the clock, as many developing country delegations are planning to leave.

There is pressure to conclude these finance talks in Baku, because Joe Biden is still in the White House until January. When Donald Trump takes office, he is expected to be hostile to all aspects of cooperation on the climate crisis.

mr. methane

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When Donald Trump takes office, he is expected to be hostile to all aspects of cooperation on the climate crisis.

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one of his more sensible policies. along with his war on woke. and his continued reliance on fossil fuels. and his immigration curbs.

giving in to your climate fantasists will render us both bankrupt and dependent on china, the most polluting nation on earth, who use slave labour to produce the materials and the tech that we need, and we will continue to enrich the chinese to produce this nonsense for us in order to achieve the unachievable goals we have set ourselves. i.e. net zero by tomorrow lunchtime. in pursuit of the deluded belief that we, humans, can actually reverse the regular and unpreventable changes to the climate that have been happening for the past billion years.

if you want to save the planet, then cut down the population, thereby using less of the limited resources available.

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Originally Posted by taxexile

belief that we, humans, can actually reverse the regular and unpreventable changes to the climate that have been happening for the past billion years.

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another lesson.......

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Originally Posted by S Landreth

Previous climates can be explained by natural causes, while current climate change can only be explained by an excess of CO2 released by human fossil fuel burning. Records of past climates indicate that change happened on time scales of thousands to millions of years. The global rise in temperature that has occurred over the past 150 years is unprecedented and has our fingerprints all over it.

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:doglol:

even if that is the case, there is nothing we can do about it so long as billions of people need food to be grown, harvested, produced ,packed, and distributed. the same goes for cars, buses, planes, medicines, clothes, electronics, building materials, and everyhting we humans either need or feel entitled to.

there is just not enough green energy available, maybe in 50 years when the tech. has advanced, but now or in 10 or 20 years, no chance. we need energy to survive, cheap energy. green energy is far too expensive at the moment. so for the time being ..... drill baby drill!

whatever we puny humans stupidly try to do, we cannot and will not change the weather, but the weather will change us. we will adapt one way or another.

but at the moment it is putin that presents the greatest danger, not a couple of degrees of heat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by taxexile

green energy is far too expensive at the moment.

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Wrong again climate denier

New draft text published

The new draft text has just been published here.

The new text on the all-important finance target “calls for” $1.3tn by 2035 - that’s what developing countries asked for - but what kind of finance remains important - grants, loans, private?

It “decides” on $250bn for developing countries by 2035 - that’s in the ballpark of the figures that have been frequently mentioned for the “core” funding, though $300bn was at the top end. This might be the start of a haggle.

It “invites developing country parties to make additional contributions” - nations like China and Saudi Arabia will like that - they are still officially developing countries in UN climate talks and very strongly reject any calls to be obliged to contribute.

But this it just the latest iteration of the text

blow it out of your arse methane man.


https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...1000_QL80_.jpg

^12 year old climate denier

Developing countries urged to reject ‘bad deal’ as Cop29 climate talks falter

Developing countries were being urged by civil society groups to reject “a bad deal” at the UN climate talks on Friday night, after rich nations refused to increase an “insulting” offer of finance to help them tackle the climate crisis.

The stage is set for a bitter row on Saturday over how much money poor countries should receive from the governments of the rich world, which have offered $250bn a year by 2035 to help the poor shift to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather.

That is “nowhere near enough” according to poor country groupings and campaigners at the talks. “This is unacceptable,” said the Alliance of Small Island States in a statement. Climate finance at this level would not enable countries to green their economies to the extent needed to limit global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, they warned. “The proposed $250bn a year by 2035 is no floor, but a cap that will severely stagnate climate action efforts.”

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice said there were growing calls for a walkout, and that “no deal is better than a bad deal”, as the Cop29 UN climate summit dragged on through Friday night. There is still no end in sight to the talks, which were scheduled to finish on Friday at 6pm Baku time.

Wafa Misrar, the campaigns and policy lead of Climate Action Network Africa, said: “[This is] a profound disrespect to the people on the frontlines of the climate crisis – those losing their lives, homes and livelihoods every day. It is disheartening to witness the lack of commitment from global north countries, who seem willing to disregard our realities.”

Safa’ Al Jayoussi, the climate justice lead at Oxfam International, said: “This is a shameful failure of leadership. No deal would be better than a bad deal, but let’s be clear – there is only one option for those grappling with the harshest impacts of climate collapse: trillions, not billions, in public and grants-based finance.”

According to the draft text of a deal circulated on Thursday, developing countries would receive at least $1.3tn a year in climate finance by 2035, which is in line with the demands most submitted in advance of this two-week conference.

But poor nations wanted much more of that headline finance to come directly from rich countries, preferably in the form of grants rather than loans. They said the offer of $250bn coming from rich countries, with few safeguards over how much would come without strings attached, was much too little.

On Friday evening Greta Thunberg called the current draft “a complete disaster”. “The people in power are yet again about to agree to a death sentence to the countless people whose lives have been or will be ruined by the climate crisis,” she posted on X. “The current text is full of false solutions and empty promises. The money from the global north countries needed to pay back their climate debt is still nowhere to be seen.”

The offer from developed countries is supposed to form the inner core of a “layered” finance settlement, accompanied by a middle layer of new forms of finance such as new taxes on fossil fuels and high-carbon activities, carbon trading and “innovative” forms of finance; and an outermost layer of investment from the private sector, into projects such as solar and windfarms.

These layers would add up to $1.3tn a year, which is the amount that leading economists have calculated is needed in external finance for developing countries to tackle the climate crisis. Many activists have demanded more – figures of $5tn or $7tn a year have been put forward by some groups, based on the historic responsibilities of developed countries for causing the climate crisis.

But rich countries are facing their own budgetary crises, with rampant inflation, wars including the one in Ukraine, the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and threats from rightwing parties to weaponise the climate crisis as an issue.

Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s climate minister and a former green activist, said: “Countries like Canada are not denying what the needs are. We have made it clear that we cannot get to trillions with public dollars. It’s simply not possible.”

Most countries – and campaigners – know this, he added. “Some people are being disingenuous. They have known from the beginning that we would get to trillions with public money. Our public would not allow that to happen, but we can mobilise more than we have so far and that’s exactly what we are doing.”

Azerbaijan, which holds the presidency of the talks, also came in for criticism on Friday as countries complained that draft texts of an agreement left out and played down a key commitment to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

That commitment was made a year ago at the Cop28 talks in Dubai, but some countries want to unpick it. Saudi Arabia has been widely accused of taking the commitment out of drafts at every opportunity, to the fury of developed countries that want to build on the commitment to force a global shift away from high-carbon energy.

Yalchin Rafiyev, the chief negotiator for Azerbaijan, responded by accusing rich countries of failing to come up with an adequate offer of climate finance. “It [the $250bn] doesn’t correspond to a fair and ambitious goal,” he said.

Delegates expect a further draft text on Saturday morning. That will also be subject to fierce negotiations and potentially further iterations.

Cop29: wealthy countries agree to raise climate finance offer to $300bn a year

Major rich countries at UN climate talks in Azerbaijan have agreed to lift a global financial offer to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis to $300bn a year, as ministers met through the night in a bid to salvage a deal.

The Guardian understands the Azeri hosts brokered a lengthy closed-door meeting with a small group of ministers and delegation heads, including China, the EU, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, the UK, US and Australia, on key areas of dispute on climate finance and the transition away from fossil fuels.

It came as the Cop29 summit in Baku, which had been due to finish at 6pm Friday, dragged into Saturday morning. A plenary session had been planned for 10am but did not eventuate.

The developing world reacted with anger to a draft $250bn climate finance target on Friday, dismissing it as a “joke” and far below the amount that is needed to help the poor shift to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather. It prompted a diplomatic effort behind the scenes to increase the offer from developed nations.

Multiple sources said the EU and several members of the umbrella group of countries including the UK, US and Australia had indicated they could go to $300bn in exchange for other changes to a draft text released on Friday.

The Guardian understands that the UN secretary general, António Guterres, was ringing round capitals to push for a higher figure. Japan, Switzerland and New Zealand were understood to be among the countries resistant to the $300bn figure late on Friday.

A $300bn offer would still fall well short of what developing countries say is necessary, and would likely draw sharp criticism if included in an updated text expected later on Saturday. But with some ministers booked to leave Baku in the hours ahead, countries face a decision on what they are prepared to accept.

Several ministers from rich nations have argued that a deal may be easier now than next year, when Donald Trump will be US president and right-wing governments could be returned at elections in several countries, including Germany and Canada, and they do not want to make a commitment they cannot meet.

Claudio Angelo, from Observatório do Clima in Brazil, said rich countries had “clearly arrived to ditch their obligations”. “After three years of negotiations the first time we ever saw quantum in the text was yesterday,” he said.

He said $300bn in grant funding was “way, way below” what developing countries needed. “Remember, many of them are already in deep debt,” he said. “To have climate finance as the current text proposes will only entrap those countries more.”

According to the draft text of a deal circulated on Friday, developing countries would receive at least $1.3tn a year in climate finance by 2035, which is in line with the demands most submitted in advance of this two-week conference.

But poor nations wanted much more of that headline finance to come directly from rich countries, preferably in the form of grants rather than loans. They said the offer of $250bn coming from rich countries, with few safeguards over how much would come without strings attached, was much too little.

The offer from developed countries is supposed to form the inner core of a “layered” finance settlement, accompanied by a middle layer of new forms of finance such as new taxes on fossil fuels and high-carbon activities, carbon trading and “innovative” forms of finance; and an outermost layer of investment from the private sector, into projects such as solar and windfarms.

These layers would add up to $1.3tn a year, which is the amount that leading economists have calculated is needed in external finance for developing countries to tackle the climate crisis. Many activists have demanded more – figures of $5tn or $7tn a year have been put forward by some groups, based on the historical responsibilities of developed countries for causing the climate crisis.

While climate finance is the major focus at Cop29, other issues also remain unresolved. Azerbaijan, which holds the presidency of the talks, has been criticised for playing down a key commitment to “transition away from fossil fuels” in draft texts.

That commitment was made a year ago at the Cop28 talks in Dubai, but some countries want to unpick it. Saudi Arabia has been widely accused of taking it out of drafts at every opportunity, sparking fury from countries that want to explicitly emphasise the need to move away from coal, oil and gas and towards renewable energy.

The hidden $100bn issue

Our reporters Dharna Noor and Patrick Greenfield have hit upon a problem that makes the sums of money on the table at Cop29 considerably smaller than people may first think.

The proposed text on climate finance released at Cop29 makes no mention of inflation. This makes a massive difference to the scale of finance being discussed.

In 2009, developed countries agreed that by 2020, they would collectively mobilize $100bn per year to support developing countries’ decarbonization and adaptation plans. US dollar inflation was 20.6% in this time period.

But when monitoring contributions, inflation was not taken into account, the OECD confirmed to the Guardian. As a result, the target became easier to meet over time, though countries met it late.

The Cop29 draft texts released on Friday set a new proposed finance goal: $250bn by 2035. But they will not rise over time to keep pace with inflation.

This has a very big impact on numbers, as the analysis shows below.

$100bn in 2009 dollars would equal $145.3bn today if we adjust for US inflation in this time period.

Returning to the proposed $250bn target, that becomes $345bn if we assume the average annual inflation rate of the US of 2.38% over the last 15 years, according to a back-of-the-napkin calculation from my colleague Patrick Greenfield.

“Agreeing a figure of $250 billion mobilised per year by 2035 would not only be inadequate but shameful. Adjusted for inflation, it represents virtually no increase in public finance from developed countries beyond the $100 billion commitment made 15 years ago,” Salomé Lehtman, project and advocacy advisor at Mercy Corps, said.

And $390bn annually – the number proposed in a study by top academics as fair and in line with the Paris agreement – would in 2035 be $538bn in today’s money, assuming the same rate of inflation.

“Targets will need to adjust for inflation over time,” Amar Bhattacharya, the executive secretary of the UN’s independent high-level expert group on climate finance and co-author of the study, told the Guardian.

Put another way, the proposed $250bn target for 2035 is really a $197.6bn target, assuming the same inflation rate. This means the target is not even a doubling.

“The proposed climate finance goal in the latest text is an embarrassment,” said Collin Rees, a manager at the climate justice NGO Oil Change International, who shared calculations from the IMF with the Guardian.

The Guardian

There is some good news but I wanted to put this out first……

Revealed: Saudi Arabia accused of modifying official Cop29 negotiating text

A Saudi Arabian delegate has been accused of directly making changes to an official Cop29 negotiating text, it can be revealed.

Cop presidencies usually circulate negotiating texts as non-editable PDF documents to all countries simultaneously, and they are then discussed. Giving one party editing access “risks placing this entire Cop in jeopardy”, one expert said.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is regarded by many as a persistent obstructor of action at UN climate summits to cut the burning of fossil fuels and has been described as a “wrecking ball” at Cop29.

Earlier on Saturday, a document was circulated by the Azerbaijani presidency with updates to the negotiating text on the just transition work program (JTWP). This aims to help countries move to a cleaner and more resilient future, while reducing inequalities.

The document was sent with “tracked changes” from the previously circulated version. In two cases, the document showed edits were made directly by Basel Alsubaity, who is from the Saudi ministry of energy and the lead on the JTWP. It was not sent to other countries to edit, the Guardian was told.

One of the changes deletes a section of text reading “encourages parties to consider just transition pathways in developing and implementing NDCs, NAPs and LT-LEDSs that are aligned with the outcome of the first global stock take and relevant provisions of the Paris agreement”. (NDCs are nationally determined contributions, NAPs are national adaptation plans and LT-LEDs are long-term low emission development strategies.)

Catherine Abreu, the director of the International Climate Politics Hub and a Cop veteran, said: “All parties need to see presidency texts during this process as the negotiations proceed and this is generally done by circulating non-editable PDF documents to all parties simultaneously.

“Giving one party editing access to these documents, and a party known for its objective of rolling back the historic global agreement made last year to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy and energy efficiency, suggests a worrying lack of independence and objectivity, and clearly contravenes both the spirit and the rules of this process,” she said. “This kind of behaviour from a presidency risks placing this entire Cop in jeopardy.”

Two groups – the Alliance of Small Island States and the Least Developed Countries – walked out of a key meeting on Saturday, saying they were not being consulted by the presidency.

The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, speaking on Saturday before the editing revelation, said: “We are in the midst of a geopolitical power play by a few fossil fuel states. We will not allow the most vulnerable, especially the small island states, to be ripped off by the few rich fossil fuel emitters who have the backing, unfortunately, at this moment of the president [of Cop29].”

A 2023 report by the Climate Social Science Network concluded: “One nation has had an outsized role in undermining progress at global climate negotiations, year after year: Saudi Arabia. The fossil fuel giant has a 30-year record of obstruction and delay, protecting its national oil and gas sector and seeking to ensure UN climate talks achieve as little as possible, as slowly as possible.

“Riyadh’s envoys are among the most active across all tracks of UN climate talks, frequently pushing back on efforts to curb fossil fuels,” it said. “Despite increased temperatures across Saudi Arabia and falling groundwater supplies, Riyadh has shown little sign of shifting strategy.”

The Cop29 presidency, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Saudi delegation have been contacted for comment.

COP29 UN Climate Conference Agrees to Triple Public Finance to Developing Countries, Protecting Lives and Livelihoods

UN Climate Change News, 24 November 2024 – The UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) closed today with a new finance goal to help countries to protect their people and economies against climate disasters, and share in the vast benefits of the clean energy boom.


With a central focus on climate finance, COP29 brought together nearly 200 countries in Baku, Azerbaijan, and reached a breakthrough agreement that will:

• Triple public finance to developing countries, from the previous goal of USD 100 billion annually, to USD 300 billion annually by 2035.
• Secure efforts of all actors to work together to scale up finance to developing countries, from public and private sources, to the amount of USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035.

Known formally as the New Collective Quantified on Climate Finance (NCQG), it was agreed after two weeks of intensive negotiations and several years of preparatory work, in a process that requires all nations to unanimously agree on every word of the agreement.


"This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country,” said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change. “But like any insurance policy – it only works – if premiums are paid in full, and on time. Promises must be kept, to protect billions of lives.”


"It will keep the clean energy boom growing, helping all countries to share in its huge benefits: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all.”


The International Energy Agency expects global clean energy investment is set to exceed USD 2 trillion for the first time in 2024.


The new finance goal at COP29 builds on significant strides forward on global climate action at COP27, which agreed an historic Loss and Damage Fund, and COP28, which delivered a global agreement to transition away from all fossil fuels in energy systems swiftly and fairly, triple renewable energy and boost climate resilience.


COP29 also reached agreement on carbon markets – which several previous COPs had not been able to achieve. These agreements will help countries deliver their climate plans more quickly and cheaply, and make faster progress in halving global emissions this decade, as required by science.


Important agreements were also reached on transparent climate reporting and adaptation as summarized below.


Stiell also acknowledged that the agreement reached in Baku did not meet all Parties' expectations, and substantially more work is still needed next year on several crucial issues.


“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work to do,” said Stiell. “The many other issues we need to progress may not be headlines but they are lifelines for billions of people. So this is no time for victory laps, we need to set our sights and redouble our efforts on the road to Belem.”


The finance agreement at COP29 comes as stronger national climate plans (Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs) become due from all countries next year. These new climate plans must cover all greenhouse gases and all sectors, to keep the 1.5°C warming limit within reach. COP29 saw two G20 countries – the UK and Brazil – signal clearly that they plan to ramp up climate action in their NDCs 3.0, because they are entirely in the interests of their economies and peoples.


“We still have a very long road ahead, but here in Baku we took another important step forward,” said Stiell. “The UN Paris Agreement is humanity’s life-raft; there is nothing else. So here in Baku and all of the countries represented in this room we’re taking that journey forward together.”


A brief summary of other key achievements at COP29 follows below.


Article 6 of the Paris Agreement


A notable achievement during the past two weeks was the progress made on carbon markets. After nearly a decade of work, countries have agreed on the final building blocks that set out how carbon markets will operate under the Paris Agreement, making country-to-country trading and a carbon crediting mechanism fully operational.


On country-to-country trading (Article 6.2), the decision out of COP29 provides clarity on how countries will authorize the trade of carbon credits and how registries tracking this will operate. And there is now reassurance that environmental integrity will be ensured up front through technical reviews in a transparent process.


On day one of COP29, countries agreed standards for a centralized carbon market under the UN (Article 6.4 mechanism). This is good news for developing countries, who will benefit from new flows of finance. And it is particularly good news for least developed countries, who will get the capacity-building support they need to get a foothold in the market.


This mechanism, known as the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism, is underpinned by mandatory checks for projects against strong environmental and human rights protections, including safeguards that ensure a project can’t go ahead without explicit, informed agreement from Indigenous Peoples. It also allows anyone affected by a project to appeal a decision or file a complaint.


Under the text agreed on Article 6.4, there is a clear mandate for the UN carbon market to align with science. It tasks the Body getting this market up and running to consider the best available science across all work going forward.


The work on carbon markets doesn’t stop in Baku. The Supervisory Body setting up the new carbon crediting mechanism has been handed a long 2025 to-do list by Parties and will continue to be accountable to them.


Transparency


Transparent climate reporting made big strides forward in Baku, building a stronger evidence base to strengthen climate policies over time, and helping to identify financing needs and opportunities. To date, 13 Parties have now submitted their first Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR) – due from all Parties by the end of the year. Andorra, Azerbaijan, the European Union, Germany, Guyana, Japan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Netherlands, Panama, Singapore, Spain, and Türkiye have led the way on transparent climate reporting, and set an example for others to follow. The list of received BTRs is continuously being updated here.


In addition, all transparency negotiating items concluded successfully at COP29, with Parties expressing their appreciation for the timely completion of the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) reporting tools, the technical trainings, and the support provided to developing countries for reporting under the ETF that took place in 2024.


A total of 42 events were organized under #Together4Transparency, a UNFCCC collaborative initiative that promotes climate transparency with Parties and non-Party stakeholders. These events emphasized the vital role of transparency in preparing NDCs and net-zero pathways, as well as in recognizing climate action from non-Party stakeholders. Events included high-level sessions, mandated events and training sessions to prepare countries for their BTRs, as well as to equip technical experts for the upcoming review process.


The critical role of REDD+ was recognized through a £3 million pledge by the UK International Forest Unit to support UN Climate Change’s work over four years. This funding will bolster REDD+ activities in many countries, enabling the secretariat to create dedicated spaces for REDD+ experts to engage in technical dialogue. These efforts are expected to enhance the transparency and implementation of REDD+, in line with the Global Stocktake objective to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.


Adaptation


COP29 was an important moment for adaptation, with the delivery of several key outcomes. The COP decision on matters relating to the least developed countries (LDCs) contains a provision for the establishment of a support programme for the implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) for the LDCs. Parties extensively discussed the second five-year assessment of progress to formulate and implement NAPs, and will continue that in June 2025.


A High-Level Dialogue on National Adaptation Plans convened ministers from least developed countries and small island developing States, financial experts and international donors to address the growing urgency of climate adaptation. Their discussions focused on innovative financing, technical support, and accelerated action to meet the 2025 submission deadline for NAPs. The event concluded with a strong call to action to expedite NAPs and translate plans into tangible outcomes.


The outcome on the global goal on adaptation sets a clear path forward on the road to COP30 for the indicators work programme, providing a process for experts to continue their technical work before passing the baton to Parties. COP29 also launched the Baku Adaptation Road Map and Baku high-level dialogue on adaptation to enhance the implementation of the UAE Framework. Finally, the outcome raises ambition by agreeing to continue unpacking transformational adaptation moving forward.


COP29 took a decisive step forward to elevate the voices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in climate action, adopting the Baku Workplan and renewing the mandate of the Facilitative Working Group (FWG) of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP). The adopted decision acknowledges the progress made by the FWG in fostering collaboration among Parties, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and underscores the leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in addressing the climate crisis.


Gender and climate change


Countries agreed a decision on gender and climate change, extending the enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender and Climate Change for another 10 years, reaffirming the importance of gender equality and advancing gender mainstreaming throughout the convention.


They also agreed to develop a new gender action plan for adoption at COP30, which will set the direction for concrete implementation.


Civil society participation, children and youth


World leaders at COP29 were joined by civil society, subnationals, business, Indigenous Peoples, youth, philanthropy, and international organizations. More than 55,000 people attended COP29 to share ideas, solutions, and build partnerships and coalitions.


The decisions taken at COP29 also reemphasize the critical importance of empowering all stakeholders to engage in climate action; in particular under Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE). Parties recalled the importance of integrating ACE elements into national climate change policies, plans, strategies and action, and noted the secretariat’s compendium of good practices for integrating ACE elements into NDCs.


COP29 marked a significant milestone as dedicated spaces were created to ensure the meaningful participation of children within the Youth-led Climate Forum for the first time. Four children, including the youngest at just 10 years old, took on roles as moderators and speakers, engaging directly with Parties and observer organizations. Their participation highlighted the importance of inclusivity and intergenerational collaboration in driving climate action.


In parallel with the formal negotiations, the Global Climate Action space at COP29 provided a platform for governments, businesses and civil society to collaborate and showcase their real-world climate solutions. An overview and summary of these can be found here.


The High-Level Champions, under the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, launched their 2024 Yearbook of Global Climate Action at COP29, showing that climate action by non-Party stakeholders, including businesses, investors, sub-national actors and civil society, is driving progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, and that their engagement is more crucial than ever.


More information


Read a transcript of UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell’s closing speech at COP29 here (also available in Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish).



Read the COP29 decision texts here.

https://unfccc.int/news/cop29-un-cli...otecting-lives