Priorities and key agreements of the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-29)
The 29th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) held from 11 to 22 November attracted over 72,000 participants from 196 countries. There were 80 presidents, vice presidents and prime ministers among them. The countries presented their reports and stances on the climate change issue, and further strategies to reduce emissions of carbon, methanol and other impurities into the atmosphere.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Leaders Summit on November 12.
“We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And time is not on our side”, he noted. According to Guterres, Oxfam finds the richest billionaires emit more carbon in an hour and a half than the average person does in a lifetime. At COP28, all of you agreed to move away from fossil fuels; To accelerate net zero energy systems, setting milestones to get there; To boost climate adaptation; And to align the next round of economy-wide national climate plans – or NDCs – with the 1.5 degree limit. Humanity is behind you: a poll by the University of Oxford and the United Nations Development Programme finds that eighty percent of people around the world want more climate action. Scientists, activists, and young people are demanding change – they must be heard, not silenced. And the economic imperative is clearer and more compelling – with every renewables roll out, every innovation, and every price drop.
Last year – for the first time – investments worth $2trillion and made into grids and renewables overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels. Almost everywhere, solar and wind are the cheapest source of new electricity. António Guterres urged you to focus on three priorities. First, emergency emissions reductions. To limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we must cut global emissions nine percent every year. By 2030, they must fall 43 percent on 2019 levels.
Advance global goals to triple renewables capacity, double energy efficiency, and halt deforestation by 2030; Slash global fossil fuel production and consumption thirty percent by the same date;
Secondly, you must do more to protect your people from the ravages of the climate crisis. The most vulnerable are being abandoned to climate extremes. The gap between adaptation needs and finance could reach up to $359 billion a year by 2030. Developed countries must race the clock to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion a year by 2025. Adaptation investments can transform economies, driving progress across the sustainable development goals. We need every person on earth to be protected by an alert system by 2027, in line with our early warnings for all initiative. And we need climate justice. Particularly, a surge in pledges to the new loss and damage funds.
And the third priority is finance. Developing countries eager to act are facing many obstacles: scant public finance; raging cost of capital; crushing climate disasters; and debt servicing that soaks up funds.
We need a new finance goal that meets the moment. Five elements are critical to success. First, a significant increase in concessional public finance. Second, a clear indication of how public finance will mobilize the trillions of dollars developing countries need. Third, tapping innovative sources, particularly levies on shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction, based on the principle that polluters must pay. Fourth, a framework for greater accessibility, transparency, and accountability – giving developing countries confidence that the money will materialize. Fifth, boosting lending capacity for bigger and bolder multilateral development banks. The COP29 outcome must build on the pact for the future – agreed by consensus in New York in September – and drive progress.
Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Former Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), also addressed the summit.
A special video message from NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Nick Hague aboard the International Space Station was presented at the Summit.
President Ilham Aliyev delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Leaders Summit. Azerbaijan will do its best to find a common understanding between developed and developing countries, between the Global South and the Global North, the head of state said in particular.
According to him, the technical potential for renewable energy is estimated at 135 gigawatts onshore and 157 gigawatts offshore. Last year, Masdar from the UAE inaugurated the solar power plant of 230 megawatts, the biggest in our region. ACWA Power from Saudi Arabia is currently constructing a wind power station with a potential capacity of 240 megawatts.
During COP29, an agreement has been signed with bp from the UK to build a 240-megawatt solar power station in the district of Jabrayil, which was liberated from the Armenian occupation four years ago. This project will provide decarbonization of one of the biggest oil and gas terminals in the world, the Sangachal terminal.
By 2030, we plan to build solar, wind, and hydro power stations of approximately six gigawatts. But this is not all of our plans. Contracts and MoUs for 10 gigawatts of renewable energy projects have been signed.
As the President noted in his speech, export markets are also studied and the Azerbaijan Republic is working actively with partners in order to implement another important energy security project—the Black Sea Caspian energy cable.
“This will allow us to export green energy to Europe, and the technical potential of this cable - by the way, feasibility studies will be ready very soon—is close to four gigawatts. But again, this is only the beginning. Our green agenda also covers different regions of Azerbaijan, so Nakhchivan, Karabakh, and East Zangazur regions of Azerbaijan have been declared green energy zones, and this is about the quarter of our territory”.
“I understand that oil-gas topic is not very popular at a climate change conference, but without that, my comments would not be complete”, the President said. Just to begin with information, the world's first industrial oil well was drilled in Azerbaijan, in Baku, in 1846. The first offshore oil well was also drilled by Azerbaijani oilmen in the Caspian Sea in the middle of 20th century. In the 19th century, Azerbaijan produced more than half of the world’s oil. Today, Azerbaijan's share of global oil production is 0.7%, and its share of global gas production is 0.9%. Azerbaijan’s share in global gas emissions is only 0.1%.
Every natural resource, whether it's oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, they are all natural resources. It is a gift from God”, I.Aliyev noted. As the President of COP29, of course, Azerbaijan will be committed to the green transition, but at the same time, we must be realistic.
Eight out of ten countries which have access to Azerbaijani gas are in Europe. The European Commission also asked us to double the gas supply to Europe by 2027, and this is reflected in the Declaration, which was signed by the President of European Commission and myself two years ago in Baku.
On November 12, the cooperation agreement was signed between the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Italian company Italgas within COP29.
The agreement was inked by Elshad Nasirov, SOCAR Vice President, and Paolo Gallo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at "Italgas", SOCAR told AZERTAC.
Key areas of collaboration include the exchange of best practices and technologies to accelerate the energy transition and digitalization, with a particular emphasis on decarbonizing infrastructure through gas leak detection using Picarro technology, as well as process digitalization through the agile methodology.
The agreement consolidates a strategic partnership aimed at promoting innovation, efficiency, and sustainability in the gas distribution sector.
During COP29, agreements on financing two solar energy projects in Azerbaijan were signed between SOCAR Green LLC, Masdar (UAE), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
It is expected that the total cost of the Bilasuvar SPP with a capacity of 445 MW and Neftchala SPP with a capacity of 315 MW funded by the EBRD, ADB and AIIB will amount to 670 million US dollars.
The plants, which are scheduled to be commissioned in 2027, are projected to produce annually more than 1.7 billion kWh (about 8% of domestic consumption) of green energy, which means saving 380 million cubic meters of natural gas per year, as well as reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere by 830 thousand tons. It is noteworthy that within the framework of the Baku Energy Week, the foundation laying ceremony of three new power plants took place on June 4 with the participation of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.
A trilateral meeting was held within the framework of COP 29 with the participation of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, which ended with the signing of a landmark agreement on strategic partnership in the development and transmission of green energy between the governments of the three countries.
The three leaders stressed the importance of strengthening ties in the field of renewable energy, and President Aliyev hailed the agreement as a "historic event" in relations between the three countries. A "Program for the implementation of cooperation in the field of green energy development and transmission" was also signed with the participation of Energy Ministries of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud joined the presidents for signing, and highlighted the participation of such Saudi companies as ACWA Power in renewable energy projects in both Azerbaijan and Central Asia.
Within the framework of COP29, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Disaster Relief Fund and the World Bank. The next document signed was a Partnership Agreement between the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines and the Disaster Relief Fund. Speaking on behalf of the Swedish side, he said that his country would allocate $11 million to combat climate change.
Within the framework of COP 29, Kazakhstan has signed agreements for the implementation of new projects with a total value of $3.7 billion. At COP 29, Kazakhstan has successfully announced the implementation of major intergovernmental projects on green energy development.
At COP 29, memoranda of understanding in green energy were signed between the Ministry of Energy and Chinese companies PowerChina Resources Limited and TBEA Co., Ltd.
The signed MoU between the Energy Ministry of Azerbaijan and PowerChina Resources Limited encompasses cooperation on industrial-scale solar PV projects, onshore/offshore wind power plants, pumped hydro storage (PHS) and battery energy storage systems (BESS), integrated smart energy and green hydrogen production projects, training of local specialists, and exchange of technological knowledge. Special emphasis will be placed on the development, financing, construction, and technical service of PHS and BESS infrastructure.
The MoU between the Azerbaijani Energy Ministry and TBEA Co., Ltd covers collaboration in relevant areas, including the production and supply of renewable energy equipment and technologies. Under this agreement, the company will supply ultra-high voltage and flexible DC and AC products, produce high-tech power grid equipment in industrial parks and free economic zones in Azerbaijan, establish Data Centers, invest and finance renewable energy and electricity projects, as well as participate in renewable energy and regional green energy connectivity projects.
Within COP29, the Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement on climate (non-market approaches to climate change mitigation and corresponding economic adaptation) was agreed upon. Progress was made during the first week of COP29: initially on Article 6.4, and Article 6.8 concerning non-market approaches was agreed upon on November 18.
Article 6.4 sets up a framework for the global carbon market. Its primary significance is highlighted by its importance in addressing long-standing disputes over carbon credit integrity. A controversy has arisen regarding the Global Carbon Credit Trade Rules. According to critics, the fast-tracked approval bypassed thorough review, raising concerns about the rule-making integrity. Article 6.4 could raise $250 billion annually to fund green projects in lower-income countries. Article 6.2, enables two countries to form a bilateral carbon trading agreement with terms set independently. The second, Article 6.4, aims to establish a centralized, UN-administered system for both countries and companies to offset and trade carbon emissions. During COP29, SOCAR, Azerbaijan's national oil company, and Tree Energy Solutions (TES), a global green energy company, have signed a Joint Study Agreement (JSA) to explore the development of an electric natural gas (e-NG) project in Azerbaijan.
The Baku Declaration on the SPECA (Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia Climate-Smart Cities Forum was signed during COP29. The declaration was finalised during a roundtable discussion of the leaders of green cities in the SPECA region, organised by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The document aims to foster the exchange of experiences in urban climate actions, discuss innovative approaches, and explore financial solutions. Representatives from Azerbaijan, the SPECA countries, the United Nations, and international financial institutions participated in the event. The declaration affirms the commitments of participating cities to jointly implement climate initiatives.
The Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action was officially launched within COP29, during which the Declaration on Climate Action for Water Resources was adopted.
This platform aims to expand global cooperation in combating climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and desertification. The Declaration, in turn, will facilitate the establishment of new partnerships and strengthen political measures in this direction.
An agreement was signed with Azerbaijan to launch a Fund for responding to Loss and Damage, appointing its Executive Director and allocating $19 mln by Sweden for these purposes.
It was also announced that the World Bank and other international banks would allocate $170 billion for climate projects over the next five years - an amount more than doubled the previous figure ($75 billion).
During the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), Bank Respublika, one of the largest commercial banks in the country, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed a loan agreement to finance green projects in Azerbaijan.
As part of the Program to increase competitiveness and Inclusion of small and medium-sized businesses in the Eastern Partnership countries, the IMF will allocate a loan in the amount of 7.5 million US dollars for a period of 3 years. The loan funds will be used to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that introduce environmentally friendly technologies and production methods.
Declaration on Green Digital Action obliging the parties to use technology in combating the climate change consequences was launched during COP29.
Positions of world’s top emitters – USA, China and the EU
China. The conference “International Zero-Carbon Island Cooperation” took place on the sidelines of COP29 on November 13.
As reported by AZERTAC, the event was organized by the delegation of the People’s Republic of China at the China pavilion located in the blue zone of COP29.
Participating and speaking at the conference were the 8th President of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Simon Stiell, as well as officials from relevant government agencies of China, representatives of large business, non-governmental sector and expert community. Ambassador of Azerbaijan to China Bunyad Huseynov took part in the conference on behalf of the host country of COP 29. In their speeches, they emphasized the growing role of joint efforts to reduce carbon emissions and the need to pool resources to achieve this goal. The need to develop mechanisms for financial support of ongoing programs not only from States, but also from the private sector, especially transnational corporations, was emphasized.
Chinese NIO electric vehicle company showcased its vision for the future of electric mobility at the Azerbaijan Pavilion during COP29.
Deputy Minister of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China Zhao Yingmin stressed the leadership of his country in this sector: “China has made significant strides in the production of electric vehicles, aiming to expand their global usage. Last year alone, China produced over 10 million electric vehicles, securing its position as a global leader in this sector”.
One of the key outcomes of the meeting was the cooperation agreement signed between Azerbaijan's GreenCar company and China's NIO. The document envisages joint development of environmentally friendly vehicles, which will open up new horizons for both states.
Since 2016, China has provided and mobilized more than RMB177 billion yuan of project funds in support of other developing countries' climate response, Xinhua news agency reported.
It is the first time that China provided a concrete assessment of its contribution to climate finance in Global South cooperation, thepaper.cn reported on Sunday, citing the Chinese delegation to COP29.
Wen Hua, an official of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a China Pavilion sideline event on Friday that China has established the world's most systematic and comprehensive carbon reduction policy system, with significant progress in the energy transition.
The total installed capacity of wind and solar power has achieved the internationally committed target more than six years ahead of schedule.
China has optimized and upgraded its industrial structure, building the world's largest and most complete new-energy industrial chain, Wen said. Wen also listed numbers - the green building area accounts for more than 90 percent of newly constructed buildings in urban areas and the annual production of new-energy vehicles is set to surpass 10 million in 2024 - in his discussion of China's green transition.
EU. The European Union (EU) will support the COP29 Global Pledge for the development of green energy grids and storage, aimed at boosting global investments in renewable energy development, according to a statement by the EU Directorate-General for Energy on November 18.
"The 29th Session of the Conference of Global Leaders on Climate Change, currently taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, is a crucial moment to renew efforts for ambitious climate action. Last year at COP28 in Dubai, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched the EU’s Global Pledge to triple the installed capacity of renewable energy (RE) to at least 11 terawatts (TW) by 2030 and to double the pace of energy efficiency improvements (from 2% to more than 4%). More efforts are needed in electrification and energy efficiency in buildings. All 198 member countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have committed to achieving these goals. To overcome obstacles in deploying clean energy, the EU will support the COP29 Global Pledge on energy grids and storage, aimed at stimulating global investments in power grids, storage, and other flexible solutions critical for efficient deployment and consumption of clean energy," the EU statement noted on Monday.
The document also emphasizes reducing methane emissions from fossil fuels.
"Currently, reducing methane emissions in oil, gas, and coal extraction is the most immediate opportunity to slow down global warming. It is also highly cost-effective, as methane can be captured and commercialized, thereby offsetting the costs of investments in methane emission reductions," the EU Directorate for Energy stated.
The statement recalls that at COP29, the European Commission launched a roadmap for expanding cooperation on methane emission reduction between global importers and exporters.
This roadmap is based on the "Global Methane Pledge," a voluntary initiative signed by 158 countries to reduce global methane emissions by 30% by 2030. It also addresses methane emissions related to the import of fossil fuels into the EU.
The EU statement on November 18 also highlighted the EU's focus on building direct partnerships with countries worldwide, paving the way for a more sustainable energy future and helping reduce the EU's dependency on Russian fossil fuels under the RePower plan.
"Ensuring sustainable supplies of critical raw materials, especially those needed for electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines, is also a central element of EU energy diplomacy. In this context, the EU plans to launch new partnerships in clean trade and investment to further strengthen relations with non-EU countries," the EU document emphasized.
Such EU policies will enable Europe to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
"In 2023, renewable energy accounted for 50% of the EU’s electricity production. We are steadily moving away from polluting fossil fuels, replacing them with clean alternatives, while Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continues to grow, showcasing the potential on the path to achieving the European Green Deal. The EU's progress is important, but climate change remains a global challenge, requiring urgent global action. As the 27 EU member states are responsible for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, many other global players are needed to make a significant impact. Therefore, the EU is pursuing a bold agenda to promote a fair, sustainable, and ambitious global energy transition that leaves no one behind," the EU statement says.
The main thing that we all need to do at COP29 in Baku is to reach an agreement on more optimal terms, the European delegation believes. The EU is represented by European Council President Charles Michel, European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra and the Hungarian Presidency of the Council. The EU delegation is headed by the European Commission and Hungarian Presidency.
USA. At COP29, the Senior Advisor to President Biden for International Climate Policy John Podesta noted the success made by the United States in reducing carbon dioxide emissions over the past four years and expressed his hope that efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions would continue in years ahead. Despite the last week's presidential elections held in the US, the US delegation is here now to work towards combating climate change, he stressed.
“The USA expects impactful results from this event in the coming weeks," he said.
Podesta also highlighted the US achievements in the clean energy sector. “In 2023, 36 gigawatts of environmentally clean electricity, or green energy, produced in the US was sufficient to provide electricity to more than 20 million homes,” Podesta added.
A report, commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce due to the start of the UN Climate Change conference this week in Azerbaijan, estimates that climate-related extreme weather events have cost the global economy more than $2 trillion between 2014 and 2023, which roughly corresponds to the economic losses from the global financial crisis of 2008.
During his previous term, elected in early November, US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement because of the unfair financial burden imposed on the Americans. In his election campaign, Trump promised to repeal national climate regulations, including the abolition of pollution limits for chimneys and power plants.
