The COP29 conference – the latest round of international climate change talks, which took place this year in Baku, Azerbaijan – is overdue on Friday and ends over the weekend. A new pledge to raise $300 billion a year By 2035, developing countries will help combat the effects of warming and transition to cleaner energy.
“In a year of geopolitical fragmentation, people doubted that Azerbaijan could deliver. They doubted that everyone could agree,” COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said during the conference. “They were wrong on both counts.”
Yet despite the host country’s optimistic reading of the summit’s conclusion, many delegates and activists were angered by what they saw as a paltry investment. Yes, the new pledge is three times the current climate finance deal of $100 billion per year. But rich countries were already there Two years behind the original targetAnd the new target still falls far short of the $1.3 trillion pledge to developing countries Campaigned for years to make it safer.
“It is sad that after months of negotiations, they waited until the last official day of the COP to table a disappointing figure, not enough time for negotiations between the parties, and to make it worse, the number is shockingly low,” said a statement. Environment Minister Rohe John Manzang of the West African country Gambia.
Talks on reducing the use of fossil fuels that are contributing to global warming have once again failed to reach an agreement.
The climate talks echoed last year’s COP28 meeting in the United Arab Emirates in that they were again held in a country whose economy depends on oil. Azerbaijan gets Two-thirds of the revenue comes from oil and gas productionAnd a COP host was accused of using the procedure again Fossil fuel export deals are fake. COP29 was one of the most well-attended climate meetings, with 66,000 registrants, although this was down from the record 80,000 attendance at last year’s talks. As with 2023, this year’s negotiations are nearing completion Warmest year on record.
COP29 faces additional complications. After a plateau and hopes of decline, global greenhouse gas emissions are rising again and will likely continue to climb. To meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement to limit warming this century to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) below pre-industrial levels, humanity must reduce emissions. More than half by 2030. According to a Survey of scientists Those who have contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change now think this goal is out of reach.
People of the world in front of Donald Trump’s US presidential election Second largest greenhouse gas emitter There is also the possibility of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement altogether. Trump will be Fulfilling campaign promises After President Joe Biden brought the United States back, after Trump’s first-term withdrawal. Trump also wants to expand fossil fuel production and May Cut incentives for clean technology Like electric cars.
Behind all this, the urgency to tackle climate change has grown. 2024 heat waves, hurricanes, coral bleaching, the floodAnd wildfires, events whose raw material is poised to become more powerful in a warming world.
These disasters have already had a major economic impact. And further changes in climate could have some of their most drastic effects – Sea level risemore extreme rainfall, Extreme heat wave — on countries that contribute least to the problem. But as the US pulls back, other countries like China are preparing to step in.
A small role for the United States, and a large part for China
The COP29 conference began after the US election, so US negotiators were still part of President Joe Biden’s team and nailed as much work as possible before they left office in January. They highlight how the United States has made the single largest clean energy investment in the world through the Inflation Reduction Act.
US negotiators noted that the US Contribution $11 billion In the pool of international climate finance, financing by rich countries exceeds the share of the $100 billion pool pledged. The US has also emphasized its goals Three times its nuclear power By 2050 progress has been made compared to 2020 levels and down Methane emissionsA greenhouse gas is about that 30 times stronger More than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Biden himself, however, did not participate in the discussion. He was instead G20 summit in Brazilwhere he visits the Amazon rainforest and makes a promise An additional $50 million to protect it
Biden has acknowledged that his successor wants to undo many of his climate initiatives, but A statement said Many cities and states will grapple with climate change and many aspects of the transition to clean energy sources are overwhelming. Solar power growth continues to defy forecasts, Wind power is competitive including fossil fuels in some markets, and EVs are becoming more popular around the world. “While some may try to deny or delay the clean energy revolution underway in America and around the world, no one can reverse it — no one,” Biden said.
Yet under Biden, the U.S. has also reached record high levels of oil and gas production and maintained tariffs on Chinese clean energy products like solar panels and electric cars. Even with a pause in new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, the US is on track to double LNG exports by 2030.
Trump wants More tariffs on ChinaThat would drive up the price of imported EVs and make many essential components of clean energy systems, such as batteries and steel, more expensive.
But as the United States withdraws from the international stage on climate change, China is preparing to fill the void, with emphasis Willing to work with other countries. China sent approx 1,000 delegates to COP29. It already reigns supreme in solar power, wind power, batteryAnd Electric vehiclesIt has both domestic consumption and exports, and is hungry for new customers.
China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, will likely see one Carbon dioxide production has decreased this yearBut it is not clear whether this trend will continue. Like the US, China is growing Energy demand from its technology sectorEspecially from technologies like artificial intelligence.
The next round of climate talks will be held in Belém, Brazil in 2025, where countries are expected to come to the negotiating table. Even more ambitious goals To curb their greenhouse gas emissions. But even tougher targets don’t make much sense if countries break their existing commitments and emissions continue to rise.
“Given the great challenges we face – both in terms of finance and mitigation – I expected a more ambitious outcome,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “I appeal to the government to see this agreement as a foundation – and to build on it.”
