Another two-week round of tense climate negotiations came to an end in Baku, Azerbaijan on November 24th as the curtain came down on the COP29 summit. As climate impacts intensify around the world, negotiators have never been under more pressure to secure ambitious emissions reduction targets, boost financial aid for poorer countries and set the rules for international emissions trading, along with dozens of other workstreams. Here are four key points that saw progress in Baku.
1. Climate finance target increased: Countries agreed a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance at COP29, pledging to provide $300 billion per year by 2035 to help the most vulnerable countries cope with climate change. This goes beyond the 2009 agreement to provide up to $100 billion per year by 2020, which was finally achieved two years late in 2022. In addition, countries agreed to make all efforts to scale up this sum to a much larger $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 through all avenues including public and private sources.
2. Carbon market rules agreed: Almost 200 countries approved long-awaited international standards for carbon markets. This agreement provides clarity on government-to-government trading of carbon credits (Article 6.2), and provides a formal basis for a centralised market for carbon credits called the ‘Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism’ (Article 6.4). However, not all parties were happy with the agreement, and work will continue in 2025 and beyond as the markets evolve.
3. Climate ambition raised: Two major countries upgraded their climate targets (Nationally Determined Contributions) in COP29. The UK increased its target to cut emissions by 81% from 1990 levels by 2035 (moving beyond its current 68% target by 2030). Brazil’s new target aims to cut emissions by two thirds by 2035, and its senate has approved legislation to create a national legally-binding Emissions Trading System (Brazil is also set to host COP30 in November 2025). Under the Paris Agreement, all countries are required to upgrade their NDCs by 2025. However, these announcements from the UK and Brazil had no formal status within the talks and were not listed in the formal outcome at COP29.
4. Transparency improved: 13 countries have submitted their first Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), which are due from all countries by the end of 2024. The transparency reports aim to build a stronger evidence base to bolster climate policies over time, and those submitted so far aim to set an example for others to follow.
