COP29 at a glance: A transitional year with low hopes for action

COP 29 has kicked off today amid a frenzy of apathy. 

Much of the day one news has focused on the number of world leaders not attending this year’s UNFCCC climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This isn’t a great surprise. For some weeks / months the consensus view has been that COP29 would be a transitional COP. This year has been ‘the year of democracy’ in which half the planet went to the polls and many voted on issues such as the economy and security, rather than on climate change. 

Newly elected President Trump is also expected to water down / pull back from US climate commitments, which leaves a vacuum for developed economy leadership on climate action which may or may not be filled by other countries. It’s one to watch this week.

While COP27 and COP28 also started with cynicism, and collectively achieved positive steps forward on climate mitigation, expectations for the same thing in Baku are muted.

However, it is still being billed as the finance COP, the opportunity for business and Governments to pledge funding to make the transition to net zero a reality. 

Will that happen? Similar expectations for financial pledges earlier this month in Cali at COP16 resulted in $396 million pledged towards a target of $200 billion. Not a promising augur. In a period of political change, whether business and finance take the opportunity to step up where politicians fail to tread will be carefully watched over the coming fortnight.

Yet despite this uncertainty around outcomes from COP, we have lived through a year of more extreme weather, from hurricanes to devastating floods and record temperatures. A model of a dead humpback whale installed in Baku by a Belgian art collective is a graphic reminder of what is at stake.

We will report back on key developments and outcomes that are relevant to UK business through daily updates and more indepth articles in the SEC Newgate UK newsletter on a Tuesday and Thursday each week.