By Robert Andre Emmanuel
Originally hailed as the climate finance COP, the COP29 conference in Azerbaijan delivered a mixed bag of results for negotiators, with an agreement signed off deep into extra time and many leaving feeling “betrayed” and financing to combat climate change insufficient.
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Baku, Azerbaijan and was expected to end on November 22 but with a deal nowhere in sight, it didn’t conclude until November 24.
In his closing remarks, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev acknowledged the difficult path to agreement, noting: “We had many difficult conversations. We never stopped pulling you together. We pushed you to reach for the highest possible ambition.”
With previous conferences setting the stage after negotiators agreed to major climate finance mechanisms like the loss and damage fund, and a global agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, the hosting of the next major conference in Azerbaijan left many wary of what could be achieved with the oil and gas producing giant taking the lead on funding these agreements.
However, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev and his team sought to allay these concerns early with the SIDS4 conference held in Antigua and Barbuda in May 2024 serving as the perfect opportunity where Babayev and Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev sought to make explicit commitments to prioritise the voices of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
“You can have a lot of money, billions in the funds, but if it’s not accessible, it is of no use,” Rafiyev told Observer media in May.
The end result, however, saw nations adopt a US $300 billion by 2035 finance deal (much of which will be provided through grants and loans) to developing nations — far short of the goal of those nations who have long argued close to US $1.3 trillion dollars is necessary to assist them in dealing with the effects of climate change, to which they have done little to cause.
In the same text of accepting a $300 billion deal, the COP negotiators adopted a broader target to “secure efforts of all actors to work together to scale up finance to developing countries, from public and private sources to the amount of USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035.”
To highlight how contentious the conference was, it wasn’t until Saturday that a draft text included a precise figure as to how much developed nations were willing to pay—to the tune of US $250 billion—and it wasn’t until 4am on Sunday that the final text was approved—nearly 33 hours after the conference was supposed to end.
Observer media spoke to Antigua and Barbuda’s top climate ambassador, Ruleta Camacho-Thomas about her views on COP29 following its conclusion.
Camacho-Thomas explained that while the package includes increased funding through climate change funds and calls for traditional lenders to consider highly concessional and grant funding, the results were far from satisfactory.
“When you consider inflation, it is a limited increase; it’s very little. However, it’s something, it’s not nothing,” she stated.
The negotiations were particularly tense, with developing nations having to take dramatic action of walking out of the negotiating room to be heard.
“We were not happy … we have to take the position where we actually walked out of the negotiation room at one point, because we weren’t being listened to; there was actually a point in the night where consultations were had with every other group except LDCs.”
In his closing statement at COP29, the Chair Minister of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Cedric Schuster of Samoa, spoke about the “woeful lack of direction to achieve the necessary ambition to meet the 1.5C goal sets us back at a time when we should be accelerating our actions”.
“AOSIS is concerned over the lack of willingness to meet the needs of vulnerable developing countries. This new finance goal will only serve to kickstart the implementation of our NDCs [Nationally Determined Contributions] and NAPs [National Adaptation Plans],” he said.
According to the Climate Action Network, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at 350.org Ilan Zugmancalled the deal “a bare minimum pledge” where the “demands for rich countries and polluters to pay up were reduced to a bargaining chip”.
“As Brazil takes on the COP presidency it’s a chance to course correct. Brazil must show climate leadership by calling for countries to submit ambitious national climate plans (NDCs) that lead us to a fossil fuel phase-out and towards a just renewable energy transition,” Zugmansaid.
In the end, the COP29 President remained bullish on what was accomplished.
“Since the beginning of this journey people doubted that Azerbaijan could deliver, they doubted that everyone could agree. They were wrong on both.
“We never accepted that the task was impossible. We knew that breakthroughs demand courage. We understood that reaching for the highest possible ambition is difficult and we asked everyone to be brave.
“We called on you to think of each other. We put LDCs and SIDS at the heart of the process and we insisted that you think of your shared future,” the COP29 President remarked.
As international media such as the Associated Press highlighted, the new deal in Baku replaces a 15-year-old agreement where developed nations gave $100 billion annually to help developing countries with climate change.
The new agreement will help fund efforts in developing countries, like Antigua and Barbuda to fight climate change through projects to transition energy grids to clean energy and improving infrastructure for technologies like wind and solar power.
Additionally, funds will help communities affected by extreme weather such as hurricanes, drought and flooding.
This includes improving farming practices, building more storm-resistant homes, relocating people from high-risk areas, and improving emergency plans.
Ambassador Camacho-Thomas highlighted the urgent reality of climate change impacts: “The IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] record say, on average, we are at 1.1 degrees increase … [and] we are measuring 1.5 degrees … Can you imagine almost a doubling of the impacts that we are seeing now and what that will mean for us? This is not about begging; this is about survival for us.”
She also emphasised that one of the critical issues that still not addressed is how nations pay for “ecosystem repair”.
“As we pass the thresholds for emissions, climate change will get worse and our expectations for ecosystem resilience just keep reducing,” she said.
Additionally, the loss and damage fund continues to see developed nations unwilling to provide sufficient funding with COP29 only able to see pledged financial support increased to a mere US $730 million.
Addressing critics who view climate finance as handouts to developing nations, Ambassador Camacho-Thomas emphasised this was about scientific evidence and responsibility.
“This is not free money, we have to do a lot of work to get [access to the funds] and going back to the Principles of Environmental Protection, there’s something called a polluter pay principle … this is payment to address damages that countries have done.”
She pointed to visible evidence of climate impacts, noting “if you’ve been in the marine environment anywhere around Antigua, you look down, you’ll see white, that’s coral bleaching”.
