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The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP29) is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11th to 22nd November 2024.COP29 aims to limit global warming to 1.5°C, emphasising the urgent need for investment in climate action. The approach involves boosting ambition through national plans and transparency while driving action with effective financing to reduce emissions and address climate impacts.
COP28, hosted by the UAE last year, succeeded in establishing a shared global approach to setting climate priorities through the historic “UAE Consensus’’ and the climate action agenda. This contributed to engaging diverse voices from around the world to lead a new, inclusive model for addressing climate issues, reflecting a fresh vision for unifying efforts to build global resilience and ensure a sustainable future.
The UAE’s participation at the climate conference includes a national pavilion and plans to more than 60 thought leadership dialogues and announcements during the two-week event.
The UAE, host of COP28, aims to present a renewed vision focused on accelerating global climate action and maintaining the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. The UAE’s participation in COP29 builds on its outstanding efforts that culminated in COP28, where the historic “UAE Consensus’’ was announced. This participation provides a strong boost to enhancing collective ambitions and conveying the ideas and demands of relevant parties to enable a new phase of climate action that contributes to building more effective global resilience.
In line with the UAE’s efforts to push the international community toward increased climate finance, especially to support the Global South, developing countries, and communities most vulnerable to climate impacts in adapting to climate change, the “Global Climate Finance Framework’’ takes centre stage on the COP29 negotiation table. As part of its participation at COP29, the UAE will host a pavilion in the Blue Zone, which will bring together climate experts, government officials, private sector leaders, academics, and youth for more than 60 thematic sideline programmess over the two weeks, to exchange ideas and co-create solutions for the most pressing climate challenges.
The UAE Pavilion will host dynamic conversation through its robust programming schedule, including topics such as: mobilizing climate finance for the Global South; demonstrating the UAE’s advancements across renewables; driving decarbonization for hard-to-abate sectors; leveraging AI to transform food systems and address water scarcity; progress across global partnerships, such as AIM4Climate, the Mangrove Breakthrough, and collaborations between the UAE and CIS nations; empowering youth in inclusive climate policymaking; planning for the 2026 UN Water Conference, to be co-chaired by the UAE and Senegal; urban-planning circular cities; and, mobilizing finance to regenerate biodiversity. The UAE Pavilion at COP29, entitled “Accelerating Action Together,” will present the nation’s climate journey, with highlights on the UAE Consensus, the COP28 legacy and impact of achievements, and the UAE’s progress across biodiversity; climate finance; the UAE’s commitment to Net Zero; building food and water resiliency; and, safeguarding lives and livelihoods.
The UAE’s support for the Republic of Azerbaijan continues since the announcement of Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29, with the UAE contributing to Baku’s leadership in efforts to strengthen cooperation and collective action towards building a more optimistic and resilient climate future.
According to the UN, a top priority for negotiators in Baku will be agreeing on a new climate finance goal, one that ensures every country has the means to take much stronger climate action, slash greenhouse gas emissions and build resilient communities. The aim is for the conference to help unlock the trillions of dollars that developing countries need in order to mitigate harmful carbon emissions, adapt to climate change and cope with the loss and damage it has caused.
As ever, there will be a packed schedule of negotiations, speeches, press conferences, events and panel discussions at the conference site, divided into a Green Zone – which is overseen by the COP29 Presidency and open to the public – and a Blue Zone managed by the UN.
In 2015, at COP21 in Paris, a landmark climate agreement was reached in which countries agreed to reduce global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees. The Paris Agreement works on a five- year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action by countries. The next updated national climate action plans – known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs – are due in 2025. This process has led to incremental but important improvements, in terms of reduced emissions and measures to promote the adoption of renewable energy sources.
Each year, negotiators build on progress made at the previous year’s COP, strengthening aspirations and commitments, and pushing for new agreements, based on the latest scientific findings on the climate, and the role of human activity in the crisis.
The COP29 Presidency stresses the importance of operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund to support vulnerable communities, particularly in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It calls for enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in line with 1.5°C targets and urges the submission of NDCs by 2025.
On adaptation, the Presidency calls for all countries to have National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by 2025 and emphasises the need for scaling up adaptation finance. In addition, COP29 encourages global financial institutions and the private sector to increase climate finance and foster investment in green innovation.
COP29 has officially released its comprehensive programming for both the Blue and Green Zones, offering a glimpse into the diverse range of events, discussions, and exhibitions that will shape the global climate agenda.
The programming covers both the Blue Zone, where the formal negotiations and decision-making take place, and the Green Zone – a space open to the public that features a variety of exhibitions, workshops, and cultural events related to climate change. The programming for both zones include a diverse range of topics, such as climate finance, adaptation, mitigation, technology, and climate finance.
Visitors in the Green Zone will be able to experience and participate in panels, workshops, keynote speeches, and fireside chats, also aligning with each thematic day. The COP29 official partners will use the opportunity in the Green Zone to inspire climate conversation and facilitate action amongst stakeholders from both the public and private sectors.