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The 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan, began November 11, 2024. Here’s a look at what happened on the second day of COP29. Also read the diary for November 11, November 13, November 14, November 15, November 16, November 18, November 19, November 20 and November 21.
Discussions on the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme (MWP) kicked off in Baku on November 12, with Parties acknowledging the two Global Dialogues / Investments Focused Events (GD / IFE) that took place this year on the theme of cities.
Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and developed countries like Switzerland, South Korea, Norway and the United States discussed the need to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius target within sight and align Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) with the same. Zimbabwe, on behalf of the African Group, spoke about the importance of the IFE and the need to enhance it, especially the matchmaking element, in order to unlock much-needed finance.
Bangladesh appreciated discussions during the GD on structural barriers to investment and stated that they looked forward to receiving adequate support from the international community to implement conditional NDCs. There was also discussion on how to link the United Arab Emirates Dialogue on the global stocktake (GST) with the MWP.
Some Parties indicated that a decision text coming out of Baku must be substantial and not procedural and, for this, perhaps countries can make submissions immediately.
The G77 and China rejected the framework for a negotiating text on NCQG. This was supported by developing country blocs, including Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC), AOSIS, Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean, Group SUR (Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina), African Group and Arab Group.
These groups have also asked the co-chairs to prepare a new text that reflects their positions, demanding a quantum of at least $1.3 trillion based on the needs of developing countries, specifying the ‘provision’ aspect of the goal from developed to developing countries (and not framing the NCQG as an investment goal) in line with Article 9.1 and 9.3 of Paris Agreement and Article 4 of the Convention, specifying what does not count as climate finance and addressing disenablers of climate finance in the Global South.
Other demands included regional allocation floors, thematic sub-goals on mitigation, adaptation and loss.
and damage, providing arrears for the $100 billion commitment and ensuring the NCQG is predictable, new and additional, grants-based and concessional and does not worsen indebtedness.
Developed countries reasserted their view that the NCQG should be a multilayered goal with a ‘provision’ target and a global investment target, the contributor base should be expanded to include countries that are already providing large amounts of climate finance bilaterally and that the quantum remains dependent on the discussions about the sources, contributor base and timeframe of the goal.
Three documents were signed between the UNFCCC, the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), the World Bank and the host country, the Philippines, fully formalising the FRLD. Funds are now expected to be accessible to vulnerable developing countries by 2025. Sweden was the sole country pledging additional finance ($19 million), bringing the total pledged funding to approximately $720 million.
At the first informal consultations on GGA at COP 29, the discussion was focused on indicators to track the progress on the various targets of its framework. The G77, China bloc and many other developing country groups wanted the indicators to track the means of implementation but the European Union and many other developed countries such as Japan rejected this proposition.
The discussion now is around binding global indicators and voluntary local indicators for Parties to track progress in their own countries, though Russia wants both these indicators (global and local) to be voluntary. The final report on the indicators by the technical experts is to be presented to the Parties before the Subsidiary Bodies conference (SB62) in Bonn, Germany in June 2025.
A statement by the Climate Club — co facilitated by Chile and Germany — stated that a set of actionable, implementable and reliable policy frameworks is needed to accelerate industrial decarbonisation. This was coupled with a report on the ‘Strategic dialogue on causes and relevance of spillovers from mitigation policies’.
Issues similar to those under Article 6.2 — authorisation process and registries — were discussed. The African Group said that authorisation elements need to follow the discussion of the Article 6.2 forum. AOSIS raised questions over retroactive authorisation of mitigation outcomes.
There were discussions on the definition of cooperative approaches under Article 6.2. The Least Developed Countries said they are concerned about voluntary approaches on some issues, such as authorisation, because it would mean that the party may not do anything and it could lead to a lack of transparency.
At the COP29 summit on methane and other greenhouse gas emisisons, the European Commission launched a new Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap to speed up reduction of methane emissions associated with fossil energy production and consumption, in partnership with Canada, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States and a few non governmental organisations.
The goal is to forge cooperation framework between fossil fuel importing and exporting countries to reduce emissions through the supply chains and to support improvements in monitoring, reporting and verification system. Methane is also a powerful greenhouse gas and is 80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
UK announced ambitious NDCs as it continues reliance on polluting oil and gas. The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged that the country will cut all greenhouse gas emissions by 81 per cent compared with 1990 levels by 2035, due to be submitted in 2025.
Earlier this year, the country announced that it also plans to invest almost £22 billion in carbon capture and storage — technologies that capture carbon dioxide from a polluting source and store it underground. This will keep the country to continue its dependance on fossil fuel past 2050 — the year it plans to reach Net Zero.