What could the COP29 deliver this year?

The UN’s 29th annual summit on climate change, COP29 (where world leaders discuss the environment and how to save it), started yesterday in Baku, Azerbaijan, the world’s 28th-largest producer of oil and gas.

Day 1
Diplomats greenlit key rules for the sale of carbon credits between countries, breaking a years-long deadlock. The carbon credits will allow rich countries to pay for cheap climate action abroad while delaying expensive emission cuts at home.

The rules will let richer nations, like the US, buy credits for removing or avoiding planet-heating pollution in other parts of the world—like by planting trees—and count the progress toward their own emissions targets.

Though the hosts hailed the agreement as an early win, critics warned the rules were rushed and didn’t follow proper process. Past failures in carbon markets, like the 1997 Kyoto Protocol’s collapse, have fueled skepticism.

Climate finance

Negotiators at the summit also discussed a new climate finance goal for vulnerable nations for disaster relief and clean energy. Estimates suggest developing nations may need up to $2.4 trillion annually by 2030.

Under President Joe Biden, the US committed to increasing its climate finance to $11.4 billion annually, which hasn’t been met. Congress allocated just $1 billion this year.

President-elect Donald Trump has questioned the existence of climate change on multiple occasions, and it seems unlikely more finances will be allocated during his leadership. He pulled out of the Paris Agreement in this first term. His re-election casts doubt on America’s role in leading the global response to climate change.

The lack of consensus on what counts as “climate finance” and challenges in tracking contributions could also hinder progress.

Global warming is projected to surpass the 1.5 degree Celsius limit set by the Paris Agreement.

President Biden and China’s Xi Jinping are not attending the COP29.