The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29)
brought heads of state, diplomats, climate experts, business leaders,
nongovernmental organizations, and activists to Baku, Azerbaijan, to
assess global climate efforts and discuss opportunities for cooperation.
Amid a series of new pledges and commitments, parties agreed on a
global carbon market framework, enabling countries to trade emissions
credits under the Paris Agreement. Additionally, after some heated
exchanges and a run into overtime, developed countries agreed on a 300
billion USD annual climate finance target. The so-called New Collective
Quantified Goal (NCQG) will support climate actions in developing
countries.
CSIS experts react to some of the conference’s most
notable highlights and preview an era of uncertainty for international
climate efforts.
Wilder Alejandro Sánchez, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Americas Program
An important meeting under the COP29 banner was the Leaders’ Summit of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
on Climate Change. Small island nations, like the Caribbean states,
Mauritius, and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, or the Solomon Islands
and Micronesia in the Pacific, face an existential risk due to climate
change and global warming and its effect on rising sea waters.
SIDS
delegations must have a voice at the table of negotiations regarding
climate change so that decisions will be specifically aimed at ensuring
that their nations survive. The Baku Declaration on Amplifying SIDS’
Voice at COP29 for a Resilient and Sustainable Future was adopted during
the summit.
Part of the Canadian pledge
during the Global Methane Pledge ministerial meeting at COP
specifically addressed SIDS, as Ottawa committed 7.5 million USD over
four years to reduce methane emissions from the waste in Belize,
Grenada, Guyana, Saint Lucia, Fiji, and Samoa. Similarly, the United
Kingdom pledged 6.7 million
USD to the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance to ensure “more Pacific
countries have the insurance they need in place” before catastrophic
weather events.
Baku was eager to provide the SIDS states with a
voice at COP. During the preparations leading up to the conference,
President Ilham Aliyev met
with the governor-general of Tuvalu, the prime minister of the Kingdom
of Tonga, and the minister of foreign affairs of the Commonwealth of The
Bahamas. The Azerbaijani government also reportedly financially
supported the participation of SIDS delegates at COP and preceding
meetings.
The SIDS are the first to experience the devastating
consequences of climate change. For them, climate change-exacerbated
weather events, particularly rising sea waters and hurricanes, are
national security and existential threats. COP29 and future iterations
of COP must focus more on protecting SIDS and helping their populations.
