Seven signs of progress at COP29

Negotiations at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan ran well past the scheduled end of the conference Friday evening. While the final outcomes fell short of hopes, they exceeded many expectations.

And while a full analysis of the final decisions will take time, a few key takeaways are already clear. The new goal for climate finance is an important step in the right direction, but responsibilities for it are ambiguous. The same can be said for the global goal on adaptation, conclusions about the need for enhanced research and observation systems, and a work plan for greater involvement of Indigenous peoples in the UN climate negotiation process. There was some enhanced clarity around mechanisms for implementing carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement; however, the failure to reach consensus on the Just Transition Work Programme and improvements to the Global Stocktake process used to gauge progress toward climate goals were distinct disappointments.

Every COP presents unique challenges and opportunities, the pace of diplomacy rarely matches the acceleration of climate change, and under the Paris Agreement, the responsibility for ambition lies at the national level. But the main negotiations—as important as they are—are not the only venue where progress is made. Over the course of the two week convening, Woodwell Climate’s delegation hosted and participated in dozens of meetings and events, scoring significant wins at COP29:

• The UNFCCC announced a collaboration with Woodwell Climate to develop a new training course to prepare experts for a voluntary review of adaptation reporting by Parties under the Paris Agreement. This will be an important support for understanding the global state of readiness for climate impacts. 

• We responded to an agreement regarding principles for implementing carbon markets under the Paris Agreement, calling on negotiators to center the voices of developing nations and Indigenous peoples, and move from aspiration to operation to ensure just, credible, and effective carbon markets. The final decision on Article 6 moves in this direction, and calls for expedited work on further specifications, supported by scientific and technical expertise.

•  Building on our previous work with partners in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, we presented a nationwide climate risk assessment for Ethiopia that provides valuable information for the development of resilience strategies and contributes to the UNFCCC’s work on the global goal on adaptation.

• We discussed the potential for AI to empower climate action on a panel hosted by Google.org in the UNFCCC pavilion.  

•  We welcomed Senator Ed Markey to the Woodwell Climate pavilion. Sen. Markey has championed multiple pieces of legislation informed by Woodwell Climate science, most recently a bill to make permafrost a weather forecasting priority.

• In partnership with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, we put the growing challenge of carbon pollution from wildfires on the official program with the only COP29 side event on the topic. The panel discussion highlighted the latest science and made the case for greater ambition in the next round of national climate commitments to account for this increasing emissions from natural sources. 

• Brazil, the host of next year’s COP, released their new climate pledge—one of the first nations to do so. Woodwell Climate scientists provided significant consultation on the plan, which prominently features ecosystem conservation, climate justice, and sustainable development, as well as science-based decision making and a new mechanism to finance forest protection. 

As is always the case, this COP was the first step on the road to the next one. COP30 will bring the UN climate change negotiation process back to Brazil, where the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in 1992, and where sustainable food production and tropical forest conservation—core areas of research and expertise for Woodwell Climate—are expected to be at the top of the agenda.