Daily News
COP29 Catch-Up: Highlights From Days 4-8 Of The Climate Conference
As the second week of negotiations gets underway, a running theme over the last few days has been that discussions at the conference so far have been disappointing and seem to be stalling. Linked with the fact that Climate Action Tracker’s latest report, published last week, showed that our current climate policies leave us on track for 2.7 degrees of warming by the year 2100, climate experts and campaigners are worried that COP29 will fail to secure important outcomes. The presence of huge numbers of fossil fuel lobbyists in attendance, and the VIP status they seem to be receiving, is also creating a lot of concern.
Nevertheless, a number of interesting developments have taken place over the last few days:
It has been stated that $1 trillion per year is required by 2030, to help developing countries decarbonise. It is unclear how we will reach this target, with negotiations continuing this week. However, leading economists have argued that this target is possible without causing disruption to the global economy, so all eyes are on Baku this week to agree on a way forward.
The possibility of ‘solidarity levies’ also arose. These would be made up of taxes on certain sectors responsible for heavy emissions, such as fossil fuels, aviation, shipping and even cryptocurrency. These levies could raise billions of dollars per year to support the fight against climate change.
This week, COP29 is overlapping with the G20 summit, taking place in Brazil. So far, the G20 talks have acknowledged the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels and secure the required levels of climate finance. This has been widely welcomed, in the hopes that it will provide a boost for COP negotiations in their final days and push delegates towards an agreement on key issues. This was highlighted by Simon Stiell, Secretary General of the UNFCC, who said. ‘G20 leaders have sent a clear message to their negotiators at COP29: do not leave Baku without a successful new finance goal. This is in every country’s clear interests.’
Make sure to keep an eye on our Daily News page as we bring you further updates from the remaining days of COP29.