The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will organize the 29th conference of the parties in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11-22, 2024. Last week, like any other presidency of COP, the Presidency of the COP29 made declarations and pledges for the world community to express their intention to pursue important issues of climate change during COP29. The presidency termed it, the COP29 Presidency's vision to enhance ambition and enable action. These are
1. Truce Appeal
2. Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge
3. Green Energy Zones and Corridors Pledge
4. Hydrogen Declaration
5. Declaration on Green Digital Action
6. Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste
7. Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) Declaration to Resilient and Healthy Cities
8. Declaration on Enhanced Action in Tourism
9. Declaration on Water for Climate Action
If we pay attention to these declarations of the presidency, what will these highlight during negotiations as the global agenda?
1. Truce Appeal
The appeal for a COP Truce will highlight the importance of peace and climate action. I think all the parties will accept this call without any differences of opinion. We want to see all nations of the interplay between conflict and climate change and emphasize the imperative of finding collective solutions to protect the most vulnerable.
2. Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge
The presidency emphasizes that the outcome Pledge will aim to increase global energy storage capacity six times above 2022 levels, reaching 1,500 gigawatts by 2030. To enhance energy grids, endorsers will also commit to enhancing grid capacity through a global grid deployment goal of adding or refurbishing 25 million kilometers of grids by 2030 and an additional 65 million kilometers by 2040 to align with net-zero emissions by 2050.
3. Green Energy Pledge: Green Energy Zones and Corridors
The Presidency emphasizes the outcome pledge to commit to green energy zones and corridors, including targets to promote investment, stimulate economic growth, develop, modernize, and expand infrastructure, and foster regional cooperation.
4. Hydrogen Declaration
The Presidency underscores unlocking the potential of a global market for clean hydrogen and its derivatives with guiding principles and priorities, to address regulatory, technological, financing, and standardization barriers.
5. Green Digital Action
The urgent need for accelerated climate action in the tourism sector calls upon stakeholders to promote sustainable tourism practices by reducing emissions and increasing resilience in the sector. Governments endorsing the Declaration will work towards positioning tourism as a component of climate solutions by integrating tourism into national climate policy documents.
6. Reducing Methane from Organic Waste
The parties requested to streamline work towards 1.5-aligned waste sector commitments in national climate policy documents with quantified targets to reduce methane in waste and food systems.
7. Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) Declaration to Resilient and Healthy Cities
Enhance multisectoral cooperation to address climate challenges in cities and an initiative to create coherence in all urban climate efforts and catalyze urban climate finance.
8. Enhanced Action in Tourism
The Presidency highlights sectoral targets for tourism in NDCs and promotes sustainable practices by reducing emissions and increasing resilience in the sector. A further initiative with outcomes to enhance transparency in the sector and provide frameworks for sustainable food systems in tourism.
9. Water for Climate Action
The stakeholders are to take integrated approaches when combating the causes and impacts of climate change on water basins and water-related ecosystems, strengthen regional and international cooperation, and integrate water-related mitigation and adaptation measures in national climate policies. The Declaration will launch the Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action to enhance COP-to-COP continuity and coherence in the field.
The Declarations of the COP Presidency focus on many important issues of the climate crisis for the global community but the COP Presidency missed many critical issues of the Developing Countries' interest. If the Presidency does not take effective steps to address the Developing Countries’ issues like new and additional climate finance, easy access to climate finance, enhanced adaptation actions, commitment and realization of finance to Loss and Damage fund, technology transfer, capacity building, and knowledge support.
The Presidency of COP29 must realize the devastating impacts of climate change that people of developing nations are facing right now. Climate-vulnerable communities are confronting critical situations to cope with the climate crisis. They need enhanced adaptation support to maintain their lives and livelihoods. In many instances, these climate-vulnerable communities migrate from vulnerable areas to safer places. However, the scope to relocate to safer areas by climate-vulnerable communities is limited. As committed in the UNFCCC, the developed country Parties must provide enhanced adaptation support to the developing country parties.
Climate finance is another important issue for the developing country parties to see the progress of realization of commitment of the developed country parties in the climate finance windows such as Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, Loss and Damage Fund, etc. created under the UNFCCC process. Developed countries have committed to mobilize resources USD 100 billion by 2020 per year to the Green Climate Fund. However, developed countries have failed miserably to mobilize USD billion by 2020 and lost trust in the global negotiation process. Developing countries want to see the payment of climate finance by developed countries as decided in 2015 while accepting the Paris Agreement.
Developing countries have no or limited obligation to GHG emissions reduction. The Paris Agreement provided important mitigation measures by all parties to achieve the global goal of 1.5 degrees C. Support to developing countries by developed countries to implement the NDCs, particularly conditional GHG emission reduction by developing countries must be taken into consideration.
Another important issue for developing countries are effective operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund and a substantial amount must be contributed to the fund by developed countries. As of September 2024, only USD 702 million was pledged by developed countries against USD 400 billion of actual needs to address Loss and Damage in the most climate-vulnerable countries. Developed countries must make a serious effort to provide enough resources to the Loss and Damage Fund. Otherwise, only the establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund and pledges of a negligible amount in the fund would not create any conducive situation to move on the global climate change negotiations.
It will be more strategic and acceptable by all if the Presidency of COP29 adds enhanced adaptation support, new and additional climate finance for climate actions, finance to the Loss and Damage Fund, and support to the NDC conditional GHG emission reduction measures of developing countries. Otherwise, the Presidency declarations and pledges would not get approval by developing country parties in COP29. Developing countries are eagerly waiting to see revised declarations and pledges by the Presidency COP29 to secure support from all on the way forward of climate change negotiation under the UNFCCC.
Download COP29 Special As PDF/userfiles/EP_22_10COP29 Munjurul Hannan Khan.pdf
Dr. Munjurul Hannan Khan, Executive Director, Nature Conservation Management
