By Liam Moore

The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP), or the United Nation’s Annual Conference on Climate Change, recently concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 11-day conference addressed pressing issues about transitioning to clean energy, delivering on financial goals, and finding new ways to incorporate nature into people’s lives and livelihoods. 

Each year, the countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) come together to discuss collective plans for the future and report progress made to combat climate change, with an overall goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 C above average global temperatures before industrialization. Currently, there are 198 parties in the UNFCCC: 197 countries and the United Nations (UN). 

To decide on the location of COP, the UN regional groups—Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Europe, and others—work together to decide which country will host. The first COP was hosted in Berlin, Germany in 1995.

The conference usually begins with preliminary sessions, in which every country gathers for speeches, discussions, and to introduce items for negotiations. To have a more focused conversation, the agenda is split into four different topics: mitigation, adaptation, finance, and technology transfer. For each of these topics, detailed propositions are created and presented to every country at the end of the conference. 

Within each COP, there are sub-proceedings where countries can network, showcase new climate technologies, and encourage climate initiatives. To close the COP, the outcomes of the event are gathered into a complete document called the “COP Decision,” which is announced by the COP president.

Photo credit: Daisy Dunne.

This year’s conference was from November 11-22, intending to set a new financial goal for funding climate change projects all over the world. These funds would go to the most affected countries with the least amount of resources to build projects that mitigate the effects of ongoing climate change. 

At the conclusion of the COP 29, many of the countries’ propositions were merged to create a universal plan: a new 300 billion dollar per year pledge for climate finance from developed countries to developing countries. This pledge will last for the next 10 years, until 2035, and will be instrumental in the efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change and transition to cleaner economies in developing countries. 

Although this pledge will be very impactful, it is almost three times less than most countries were hoping for. To effectively slow down the effects of climate change problems, developing countries requested 1 trillion dollars per year. Mohamed Adow from Power Shift Africa said, “Our expectations were low, but this is a slap in the face, No developing country will fall for this. They have angered and offended the developing world.”

Along with controversies about funding, large protests erupted around rumors of backdoor deals being made between the US and African countries hours before the release of the 300 billion dollar pledge. India’s delegation wanted to make a dissenting statement before the pledge was announced but was unable to, causing frustration from activists all over the world.

Climate protesters at COP. Photo credit: Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock.

Featured image courtesy of the United Nations.