Highlights and images for 23 November 2024

Update: Plenary reconvened after midnight for parties to elect Adonia Ayebare (Uganda) as new Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and Julia Gardiner (Australia) as new SBI Chair. After another long suspension, parties reconvened to consider the issues that remained outstanding up to that point. Eventually they:

• set a goal of at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035 for developing countries, from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources, with developed countries taking the lead, and developing countries encouraged to make contributions on a voluntary basis;
• provided further guidance on the definition of indicators for assessing progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation; 
• extended the enhanced Lima work programme on gender for 10 years; and
• provided guidance on future global dialogues and investment-focused events under the Mitigation Work Programme.

They could not reach agreement on, among others, the dialogue on the implementation of the outcomes of the Global Stocktake and on the just transition work programme, with discussions to continue at the Subsidiary Bodies’ sessions in June 2025.

With regard to the new finance goal, India, Bolivia, and Nigeria registered their concerns and characterized the goal as an “insult that did not represent developed countries taking the lead.” The LDCs lamented the lack of ambition in light of developing countries’ needs, exclusion of loss and damage, and missing minimum allocation floors for the LDCs and SIDS. Pakistan identified critical gaps in the overall package and, pointing to the next session of the Subsidiary Bodies, called for a return to the negotiation table with renewed commitment.

The European Union, Environmental Integrity Group, AOSIS, the Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC), and the Umbrella Group lamented the lack of progress on taking forward the outcomes of the Global Stocktake and urged rapid progress on energy transition.

The Baku Climate Change Conference closed at 5:31 am, on Sunday, 24 November.

It was another day filled with anxious waiting at the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The rumor mill was running at high speed, with constant whispers of incoming texts, updated figures on the finance goal, and the convening of closing plenary echoing through the venue.

In the late afternoon, Nabeel Munir, Chair of the UNFCCC’s Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) facilitated Presidency consultations on the new finance goal. The least developed countries (LDCs) and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) said they cannot engage with the new text, noting they had not been consulted in its revision and highlighting the lack of reference to allocation floors for their groups or grant-equivalent finance for adaptation and loss and damage. The meeting was suspended.

In the evening, plenary convened and parties adopted a range of decisions on less contentious matters. The most notable achievement was the adoption of the decisions on Paris Agreement Articles 6.2 and 6.4 which effectively operationalizes the market-based cooperative approaches for implementing the Agreement. This was in the works for a long time and marks an important milestone achieved in Baku. While delegates applauded, the news was largely drowned out amid worry over the other key outstanding issues, especially the new finance goal.

Plenary then suspended for several hours. At some point, new text circulated among parties and huddles started to form for groups to coordinate. Huddles convened and disbanded in various constellations. Plenary remained very well attended.