29 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29)

The next 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be held from November 11-22, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. COP29 will be the meeting of the world’s largest forum. Its goal is to develop common policies to address climate change, mainly to advance the mitigation, adaptation and financing agenda. The Loss and Damage Fund may be the way to do this. According to the European Commission, the Union needs to strengthen its climate diplomacy and set a good example for further action.

COP29 will discuss issues including:

• Creating a strategy for the next year;
• Setting new emission limits;
• Ways to reduce greenhouse gases;
• Establishing climate finance.

On October 2-3, 2024, Poland hosted PRECOP, a two-day climate conference preceding the UN COP29 Climate Summit in Azerbaijan. The priorities of COP29 were reflected in the debates in Poland, i.e. financing the transition, commitments made by countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and implementation of the COP28 findings.

What is a COP?

The COP, or the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, is a formal, annual meeting where governments assess global efforts to implement the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Climate Change. At the COP, world leaders meet to assess progress in implementing the agreements and declarations and to work out how best to deal with climate change.

Currently, the COP brings together 197 countries plus the European Commission, which represents a nearly universal membership of the body. The presidency rotates among the five UN regions. More information about the COP, including procedures, issues under discussion and efforts to date, is posted on the UNFCCC website.

COP29

As the presidency, this time of Azerbaijan, points out, the main goal of this year’s COP29 summit is to set new challenges for transferring funds to combat the effects of climate change in developing countries. Many of them stress that they are unable to reduce greenhouse gas emissions faster without financial support from outside. Since setting these rules is not easy, the Azerbaijani government has put forward plans for side initiatives, expressing confidence that they will boost climate ambitions without requiring negotiations and consensus-setting.

Azerbaijan introduced the Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF) in July 2024. It is to invest in renewable energy and support climate projects in developing countries, with half of its funds to meet national climate commitments.

Included in this year’s plans is gaining support for the promise to increase global energy storage capacity sixfold from 2022 levels. – which will require increased investment in power grids, including the construction or upgrade of more than 80 million kilometers of lines by 2040. In addition, there are plans to adopt a pledge to create a global market for clean hydrogen.

COP29 – creation of a Loss and Damage Fund

COP29 aims to limit global warming to 1.5°C by investing in climate action. The COP29 presidency stresses the importance of launching the Loss and Damage Fund to support vulnerable communities, especially in small island developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs).

It encourages an increase in nationally set targets in line with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°, and calls for phasing out fossil fuels, increasing the share of renewable energy and addressing_non-CO2 emissions, such as methane. The presidency calls for all countries to create national climate change adaptation plans by 2025 as part of their domestic efforts. It also stresses the need to increase funding for adaptation measures.

In addition, COP29 is encouraging global financial institutions and the private sector to increase their commitment to climate change initiatives and to support investment in green innovation.

Topics at COP29

The discussion at this year’s COP29 will revolve around the following topics:

• Climate empowerment activities for children and youth;
• adaptation and resilience;
• capacity building;
• climate finance;
• climate technology;
• cooperative activities;
• innovations;
• fair transition;
• land use;
• Market and non-market mechanisms;
• pre-2020 ambitions and implementation;
• platform of local communities and indigenous peoples;
• ocean science.

PRECOP, the climate debate ahead of the COP29 summit

The third edition of the largest climate conference in this part of Europe, PRECOP, prepared participants for the upcoming UN climate summit – COP29 in Azerbaijan. This year it was held on October 2-3, 2024 in Poland at the International Congress Center in Katowice, Poland.

PRECOP is a two-day cyclical event, organized by PTWP Group and UN Global Compact Network Poland, to analyze the findings of last year’s climate summit (COP28) and provide a preliminary discussion of areas to be addressed at the upcoming climate conference in Azerbaijan. PRECOP discussed topics related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Issues of economic models and business practices implementing the idea of a circular economy were raised.

Also presented were topics related to sustainable agricultural production, reducing emissions throughout the supply chain, urban planning and urban policies to support the fight against climate change. There was no shortage of debate on biodiversity, including ecosystem services and the impact of natural capital on companies’ operations.