Cop29 disappointment and celebration

While there were disappointments regarding cop29, there was much cause for celebration too

Two major global events took place last month: 

Two events 

the G20 Summit in Brazil and the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

Finance is major issue

1 Catalysing finance to address climate change was a central theme at both events. The deal reached in Baku, though hard-won, falls short of expectations.

2 What we want for finance 

Assessments had shown that developing countries 

• need $1.3 trillion per year through 2035 
• to build infrastructure for adapting to climate change; 
• investing in clean energy, 
• land use,
•  and urban development to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; 
• and recovering from disasters. 

3 this will coming from ???

This amount was to come from the 24 high-income countries listed in Annex I of the UNFCCC. 

4 Country are going back ??

Given the outlook of slow economic growth, green investments required in their own territories

and the likelihood of the U.S., which accounts for half of cumulative federal spending, pulling back, there was little appetite for a significant commitment.

5 The biggest disappointment regards finance 

 however, is that even the small commitment made — $300 billion per year — does not come entirely from public finance.

but it from sources including 

• Multilateral Development Banks, 
• carbon markets,
• and private finance. 

It is recognised that private finance tends 

to flow to economies where returns are commercially attractive, and it can easily shift back to advanced economies when conditions change. 

This creates uncertainty about whether emerging economies will see much benefit..

there were significant victories in cop29

1 Carbon markets and negotiation 

The set of agreements on carbon markets concluded a decade of negotiations. 

2 bilateral carbon credit deals 

between countries had been taking place under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, COP29 clarified the 

• procedures for authorising these credits, 
• their transferability between registries, 
• and the standards needed to ensure their environmental integrity. 

3 implementing a global carbon market under Article 6.4

 with several procedural rules agreed upon. 

It will help direct capital towards the most efficient emission reduction projects worldwide. India is likely to be a major beneficiary in this regard.

4 Other positive outcomes new emission reduction pledge : 

• Country included new emission reduction pledges from the European Union, Canada, and other regions. 

• Many nations committed to propose steeper 2035 targets in their revised Nationally Determined Contributions than their current commitments. 

• The U.K. and Brazil -have announced their updated targets, while Norway is consulting on its own. 

• Mexico - under the leadership of climate scientist Claudia Sheinbaum, became the latest major economy to announce a goal to reach net zero by 2050. 

• Indonesia - 

At the G20 Summit, Indonesian President Probowo Subianto unveiled an ambitious plan to retire all coal and fossil fuel-fired plants by 2040. 

This is significant, as Indonesia is the largest exporter and third-largest consumer of coal globally.

 Coal phase out :

The lack of progress on the “phase-out” of all fossil fuels at both COP29 and the G20 Summit is a cause for concern.

Should we acknowledge that the battle to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C has likely been lost, and adopt a more realistic target? 

A study released before COP29 indicated that the world was already 1.49°C warmer than pre-industrial levels by the end of 2023. 

Another suggests that there are still pathways to reverse temperature rise within the 1.5°C limit, even with a temporary overshoot. But this would require the removal of several hundred gigatonnes of carbon using untested carbon removal technologies. 

At present, large-scale investment in these technologies is not being seriously discussed. 

Despite this, the 1.5°C goal remains a key leverage point for developing countries, which use it to push for more financial support, and for large economies to take more aggressive steps to cut emissions. There are pros and cons to abandoning the 1.5°C target. It deserves serious thought.

Source the hindu