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It’s that time again. Conversation is beginning to heat up around the much-anticipated 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29), which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. There’s a lot on the line, as the world continues to grapple with the growing impacts of climate change and works together to accelerate climate action. COP29 will focus on accelerating climate action, pushing for stronger commitments, and facilitating further climate finance and adaptation. With climate change becoming more urgent by the day, the decisions made at this conference have a big impact on our collective future. Whether you’re new to the COP conferences or just want a clearer picture of what to expect at this year’s event, here’s a quick rundown of 6 things to know before the global climate summit begins.

A Breakdown of the Global Climate Summit 

1. UNFCCC – The Framework that Started it All

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), commonly referred to as “the Convention”, is the treaty that laid the groundwork for all international climate negotiations. First founded in 1992, it is the reason we’ve had milestones like the historic Kyoto Protocol (1995) and the Paris Agreement (2015). 

Its main goal? To stabilize the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere so that human-caused emissions do not cause dangerous changes to the global climate system. The UNFCCC also notes that it isn’t just about cutting emissions. The framework emphasizes that climate action needs to happen fast enough to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally, protect food production, and support sustainable development.

2. Parties to the Convention

There are 198 countries that have ratified the Convention, and these countries are known as “Parties to the Convention”. The Parties are divided into four main groups:

  • Annex I: This group includes industrialized countries that were members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1992 and countries with economies in transition (or “EIT Parties”), including Russia, the Baltic States, and several Central and Eastern European States.
  • Annex II: A subset of Annex I, these are the industrialized nations (non-EIT Parties), including the United States, Canada, and much of Western Europe. Under the Convention, Annex II countries are obligated to provide financial and technological support to developing countries and EIT Parties to help them reduce their emissions and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. This assistance helps these less-developed nations build greener economies and adapt to the worsening impacts of climate change.
  • Non-Annex I: This group primarily consists of developing countries, such as China,India, and Brazil, as well as other countries in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. While they aren’t required to meet the same emission reduction targets as Annex I countries, many of these nations are recognized under the Convention as being particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. For example, countries in low-lying coastal areas, countries prone to drought, and countries that are heavily dependent on income from fossil fuel production are included in this group. Despite this, some of these nations, like Singapore, are at the forefront of countries committed to making significant efforts to reduce emissions domestically. 
  • Least Developed Countries (LDCs): The 45 nations categorized as LDCs, including countries like Bangladesh, Haiti, and several island nations, are among the most vulnerable to climate change but often have the least capacity to respond. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and food insecurity are already pressing issues for these nations, despite their minimal contributions to global emissions. The Parties are encouraged to take the circumstances of LDCs into special consideration when it comes to providing funding and transferring environmentally-friendly technologies. 

3. Conference of the Parties (COP) – The Decision Making Hub

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the decision-making body of the Convention that is in charge of monitoring, updating, revising, and enforcing the Convention. It is the annual event where all 198 countries that are Parties to the Convention meet to review progress and make decisions about the UNFCCC’s goals. Simply put, COP is the main stage for climate action on a global scale.The location for COP changes each year, with COP29 being held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

4. The Paris Agreement – The World’s Climate Action Plan

One of the most important outcomes from previous COPs is the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015 at COP21. The Paris Agreement was a pretty big deal because, for the first time, nearly every country united under a common understanding that climate change is driven by human behavior and that collective action must be taken to stop it. 

The Paris Agreement outlines several key goals to mitigate climate change:

  1. Keep Global Warming in Check: Limit the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with an even more ambitious goal of staying under 1.5°C. The closer we stick to that 1.5°C target, the less severe the impacts of climate change will be.
  1. Help Countries Adapt and Transition: The agreement also focuses on helping countries—especially developing ones—deal with the effects of climate change. This includes offering financial aid and sharing technology so these nations can cut their emissions and build stronger defenses against climate-related disasters.
  1. Track Progress: Every country creates its own plan to reduce emissions and mitigate climate impacts within its borders, known as  “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs). These plans are like a roadmap for how each nation will do its part to combat climate change. NDCs are required to be reviewed and strengthened on an ongoing basis and are resubmitted every five years. The next round of updates will happen in 2025.

5. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is all about collaboration. It provides a framework for countries to transparently work together to meet their NDCs. Article 6 is particularly important in the context of the voluntary carbon markets, as it provides guidelines for how carbon credits should be tracked and their benefits claimed by the collaborating Parties. 

For example, if a wealthy, industrialized Annex II country provides funding to a developing Non-Annex I country to implement carbon offset projects within its borders, who gets to claim the climate benefit from those emission reductions? Is it the Annex II country that financed the project, the Non-Annex I country that implemented the project on its own soil, or a combination? Article 6 provides a framework to ensure  that only one country claims the benefit of a carbon credit against their NDCs, and in doing so avoids “double-counting” of the credits.

6. The Global Stocktake – How We’re Doing

Every five years, the UNFCCC Parties take a collective look at how they’re doing against their climate goals. This process is called the Global Stocktake (GST) and it is a key part of the Paris Agreement intended to keep everyone accountable. It essentially serves as a collective progress report that allows the Parties to take a step back and assess whether they are on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C or if more aggressive action is needed. 

The first global stocktake happened last year at COP28 in Dubai, and it was a major wake-up call. The findings showed that we’re falling short in our efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C—by a significant margin. In fact, national commitments to cut emissions are falling short by 20.3-23.9 gigatonnes of CO2e compared to what is required to limit warming to 1.5°C by 2030. If the world stays on this path, it will be nearly impossible to stay within the 1.5°C warming limit, which means more severe climate impacts like extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and food security challenges.

But it’s not all bad news! The COP28 Stocktake also had some bright spots that give us hope::

  • A Focus on Fossil Fuels: The final text of the COP28 Global Stocktake calls for Parties to transition away from fossil fuels in this critical decade in order to achieve net zero by 2050. This is the first time that fossil fuels have been explicitly called out in the formal outcome. 
  • Carbon Removal Technologies Highlighted: The text also calls on Parties to accelerate the use of zero- and low-emission technologies, especially in hard-to-abate sectors. This includes renewables, nuclear, and abatement and removal technologies.  This is the first time that carbon removal technologies have been cited in the text, which is a big win for the CDR space. However, it is important to note that the text groups carbon capture technologies as an example of carbon removal, even though these approaches work differently and have distinct climate outcomes. Nevertheless, the inclusion of “removal technologies” in the text is a good start, giving the climate community a platform to push for more focus on these technologies in the future. 

COP29: Eyes on Azerbaijan

As we inch closer to key climate deadlines for 2030 and 2050, the stakes get higher. Our window of opportunity to avoid the worst impacts of climate change is getting smaller and smaller, making each COP more important than the last. Climate Vault will be following the conversations from COP29 closely and sharing further insights on how we are collectively progressing against our goal to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Stay tuned for more as the discussions unfold in Baku!

To learn how you can knock out your carbon footprint by leveraging short-term carbon allowances into long-term carbon removals, reach out to the Climate Vault team. We’re here to help your organization meet its sustainability goals and positively contribute towards our collective climate goals.