No time for victory laps after COP29

COP29 was dubbed “the finance COP”, due to its focus on scaling up climate finance to help lower-income countries transition to zero-carbon economies, plus help the most affected communities adapt to the effects of climate change.  

The major ambition of COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, was to increase this funding and produce a new goal for future climate finance. 

Official outcomes

Finance

• Agreed to triple climate finance to developing countries from $100 billion to $300 billion annually by 2035
• Set goal to mobilize $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 from public and private sources
• Established the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG)

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Carbon Markets

• Finalised rules for carbon trading under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
• Established clear guidelines for country-to-country trading (Article 6.2)
• Created standards for a UN centralised carbon market (Article 6.4)
• Implemented mandatory environmental and human rights protections, including Indigenous Peoples’ safeguards

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Transparency

• Advanced climate reporting mechanisms
• 13 countries submitted their first Biennial Transparency Reports
• Completed the Enhanced Transparency Framework reporting tools
• UK pledged $3.8m million for REDD+ activities support (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. The ‘+’ stands for additional forest-related activities)

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Adaptation 

• Created support program for National Adaptation Plans for least developed countries
• Launched the Baku Adaptation Road Map
• Established Baku high-level dialogue on adaptation
• Adopted the Baku Workplan for Indigenous Peoples and local communities

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Gender and Civil Society

• Extended the Lima Work Programme on Gender and Climate Change for 10 years
• New gender action plan to be developed for COP30
• Enhanced youth participation, including first-ever children’s participation in Youth-led Climate Forum
• Over 55,000 people attended to share ideas and build partnerships

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Next Steps 

• New climate plans (NDCs) due from all countries next year
• Plans must cover all greenhouse gases and sectors to maintain 1.5°C target
• UK and Brazil signalled intentions to increase climate action in their NDCs
• COP30 will be held in Belém, Brazil

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Critical Responses

The Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) said that “the richest nations turned their backs on their legal and moral obligations”.  

“… not only did COP29 fail to deliver adequate finance, but progress also stalled on crucial issues like fossil fuel phase-out, Loss and Damage, and the Just Transition Work Plan. 

“The outcomes represent a catastrophic failure to meet the scale of the crisis, leaving vulnerable nations to face escalating risks with little support.” 

“The rich world staged a great escape in Baku,” said Mohamed Adow, the Kenyan director of Power Shift Africa, a think tank. 

“With no real money on the table, and vague and unaccountable promises of funds to be mobilised, they are trying to shirk their climate finance obligations,” he added, explaining that “poor countries needed to see clear, grant-based, climate finance” which “was sorely lacking”. 

India, a vocal critic of rich countries’ stance in climate negotiations, called it “a paltry sum”. “This document is little more than an optical illusion,” India’s delegate Chandni Raina said. Indian capital Delhi has overtaken Pakistan’s Lahore as the world’s most polluted city. 

Sierra Leone’s Environment Minister Jiwoh Abdulai said the deal showed a “lack of goodwill” from rich countries to stand by the world’s poorest as they confront rising seas and harsher droughts. Nigeria’s envoy Nkiruka Maduekwe called it “an insult”. 

Positive Responses

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the deal in Baku marked “a new era for climate cooperation and finance”. 

She said the $300bn agreement after marathon talks “will drive investments in the clean transition, bringing down emissions and building resilience to climate change”. 

US President Joe Biden cast the agreement reached in Baku as a “historic outcome”, while EU climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra said it would be remembered as “the start of a new era for climate finance”. 

The Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Simon Stiell, said the finance agreement was “an insurance policy for humanity,” emphasising its importance for protecting lives and economies amid worsening climate impacts. He praised the progress made but acknowledged the need for follow-through: “Promises must be kept, to protect billions of lives.”​ 

Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, John Denton, said the COP29 deal was “far from perfect” but represented “an important step towards mobilising the investments needed to decarbonise the global economy and build resilience to a changing climate.” 

“From a business perspective there is no time to lose in putting this agreement into action.” 

Ani Dasgupta president of the World Resources Institute said it “was not enough” but praised negotiators for making a deal that “at least tripled climate financing flowing to developing countries” despite difficult geopolitical headwinds and called it an “important downpayment toward a safer, more equitable future.” 

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, said “no country got everything they wanted” and there remains “a mountain of work to do.” 

“The many other issues we need to progress may not be headlines but they are lifelines for billions of people,” Stiell said. “So this is no time for victory laps, we need to set our sights and redouble our efforts on the road to Belem.”