This summit also evidenced that no country achieved concrete actions of the UN Paris Agreement which implies a whole work in consequence of it.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 29) took place in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, between November 11 and 22 this year, bringing together almost 200 countries and other participants, including delegates, observers and the media.
During these days, the attention of the whole world, especially environmental activists, was focused on different situations such as the one we are going through globally due to climate change and global warming, along with the consequences of this, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, storms, shortages of vital resources such as water, etc., due to the increase of lethal activities that do not cease.
A dialogue was expected to bring with it scientific foundations, solutions and the will of politicians to take immediate measures and actions to curb the problems due to climate change. COP 29 is a unique opportunity for world leaders to act in favor of our planet, however, the results have shown a precarious concern for the unparalleled problem.
It was concluded that developed countries will deliver 300 billion dollars each year to developing countries until 2035, and thus reduce GHG emissions, however, UN Secretary General António Guterres, in his statement on COP 29, said “I expected a more ambitious outcome, both in terms of financing and mitigation, to meet this great challenge”. On the other hand Julius Mbatia, manager of ACT Alliance's global climate justice program, also commented: “What developing countries are asking for - a sum of $1.3 trillion per year as a mobilization target with a target provision of at least $600 billion to be provided as public financial subsidies - is insufficient, and the mention of $100 billion as a floor is completely unbelievable and, as developing countries said at COP 29, a ‘joke’”.
Although allocating funds to these countries partly helps the problem, it does not solve it completely, since one has to look at the big picture and developing countries are usually the least polluters considering their surface area in km and other factors, as well as being the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. According to BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021 China, USA, EU, India and Russia were the countries with the highest volume of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020.
The above shows that not all countries assume the same level of responsibility in the fight against the climate crisis, it is important to frame that the money allocated is important to prevent and mitigate the consequences, even so it ends up being insufficient. The climate problem affects all of us, not just a few, so it is crucial to establish concrete actions that demonstrate the solution to environmental problems.
On the other hand, in most third world countries the money arrives but is not fully allocated to the cause, due to various political and corruption issues, depending on their situation, especially if there is no climate concern. Apart from this, nations such as Cuba, Bolivia and India have shown their discontent due to insufficient funds in terms of financing whose figure is far below the real needs, which has been a source of criticism.
This summit also evidenced that no country achieved concrete actions of the UN Paris Agreement which implies a whole work in consequence of it. 2023 and so far this year means the terrible consequences that we are observing around the world, with heat waves that reached up to 48 degrees Celsius in many countries.
But it is not all bad, from this conference around 27 countries including African continent and Pacific small island developing states signed the COP 29 Declaration on Pricing GHG Emissions from Food addressed to OECD Ministers and China in order to price GHG emissions in their agri-food systems.
According to a recent article published in TAPPC, this could lead to a reduction of up to 3% of national emissions in those countries and at least 20% of the pricing revenue can be used for climate finance for the Loss and Damage Fund. A transition away from excessive animal protein consumption is also expected, which could be a GHG emissions tax on livestock, as announced by Denmark.
Finally, this COP 29 left us with a bittersweet taste, expecting more from the political leaders and participants in proposing better measures that show a fair outcome for all nations, and although this summit focused on financing, it did not address the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, which year after year continue to warm our planet and cause catastrophic consequences. However, a small glimmer of hope was given before the end of the summit, about an agreement on carbon markets paving the way for an international system that would allow trading, but which is expected to be fully developed by 2025.
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