around 3 o'clock On Sunday morning, in an exhausted plenary session, the gavel was slammed to end COP29. The conclusion of the Conference of the Parties was greeted with applause, at the end of a tense final day in Baku, Azerbaijan. This immediately gave rise to dissatisfaction.
conference, whose primary focus was Agreeing on a new finance deal To help developing countries in their climate work, it was due to expire on Friday. But the conclusion was delayed by 33 hours due to disagreements among the nearly 200 countries over the updated amount of financing to be provided. The hope was that developed countries would commit to more than $1 trillion per year. Yet till Friday the talks had not even come close to that figure.
The final additional day was marked by drafts, hubbub and sharp clashes behind closed doors, with negotiators divided into smaller rooms separate from the main hall after a failure to reach a deal. Suddenly the door of room number 3 opened at 4 pm on Saturday evening. A group of representatives from some of the world's most climate-sensitive countries paraded past photographers and journalists, and left the talks in protest that they were not being heard.
Frantic hours of further negotiations followed. After several adjournments, the Azerbaijani COP Presidency, led by the country's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev, convened the assembly twice in the evening. Eventually, an agreement on climate finance was approved – but only a fraction of what was expected.
what does the agreement say
The text calls for $300 billion per year in climate finance from developed countries to developing countries by 2035. The initial, larger target brought up at the conference – $1.3 trillion every 12 months by 2035 – is still in text, but it is little more than an invitation.
The core issue, which the document does not resolve, is where the money will come from. Governments? Personal finance? The ambiguity is intentional. Hopefully clarification will come in a road map (called the “Baku to Belem Road Map to 1.3T”) that is being created in the lead up to COP30 next year, which will take place in Brazil. In short, there is a commitment to clarify everything in the coming months.
Importantly, there has been no change in the status of China, which is still considered a developing country under the 1992 agreements governing climate action, meaning it remains obliged to help with climate financing. Not there. It has long been called upon to contribute through the COP process, on the grounds that it leads the world in total emissions and is the world's second largest economy. Now, for the first time, China will make voluntary contributions through the COP system, but will not be obliged to do so as a result.