COP29 at a glance: Grounded progress?

The second week of COP has begun – can they turn it around (or turn around those planes)?

Over the weekend, news broke that the UK flew 470 delegates to COP29 in Baku, racking up 2.3 million air miles with a total carbon footprint of at least 338 tonnes of carbon dioxide.  Coupled with recent reports that private jet use has doubled since last year as attendees from around the world fly into Azerbaijan, the revelations have stoked criticisms of hypocrisy and raised the eyebrows of leading climate experts.

Historically, one of the most striking criticisms of COP is the sheer number of participants flying in from all corners of the globe. COP29 is no exception. With tens of thousands of delegates, activists and lobbyists in attendance, the emissions generated by these flights alone are staggering, undermining the very purpose of the meeting - to curb global carbon output. This paradox is not just an optics issue; it cuts to the heart of the conference’s credibility. How can a gathering intended to fight climate change justify its own substantial carbon footprint? The dissonance here has strengthened justified frustrations from the public and several experts, including Ban Ki-moon, the former United Nations secretary general, who described the talks as “no longer fit for purpose”.

Overcoming that footprint requires COP29 to deliver significant progress in the race to net zero which justifies the carbon expended.

From the sheer number of people flying in, the COP President appearing to offer to promote fossil fuel deals, and general frustrations at the slow pace of progress, this year’s talks have fuelled concerns that they are mainly delivering the oppositive of what they’re intended – hot air.

The effectiveness of COP has been further called into question by critiques from experts within the G20. Some argue that COP’s consensus-driven approach, which requires unanimity among nearly 200 nations, results in watered-down agreements that lack the ambition needed for meaningful change. While the G20 – which got underway today – is said by some to have the potential to drive greater progress on the environmental and economic agenda by gathering the leaders of the world’s largest economies (and greatest polluters) under the same roof. Including the climate agenda as a permanent fixture within G20 discussions could sidestep some of the diplomatic gridlock and compel powerful but reticent actors to engage more actively in global climate strategy. However, they also have to address the needs of the rest of the global economy for a just transition, another hot topic that is on the agenda at COP29.

On the flip side, whilst COP may not be perfect, having a regular, standing conference on the world stage focused on climate focuses minds. Think how many announcements there have been in the past few weeks, or how many report launches have coincided with COP. Without a focused week or two a year, climate issues may well get lost in the discord, as they seem to do every other week of the year.

This is also the first time that finance has been the focus of the agenda, so it's no real surprise that it is proving challenging to navigate. We must also remember that in the past two years, both of which were deemed significant COPs in their own rights, negotiations went down to the wire. COP28, at which phasing down of fossil fuels was agreed, relied on overtime, so we shouldn’t go counting COP29 off just yet.