Countdown to COP29 - Climate Action in Baku

 In the lead up to COP29, Climate Action will spotlight the progress made since COP28, share critical updates, and look ahead to COP29, exploring how to drive maximum impact towards meeting critical climate goals, including through this year’s Climate Action Innovation Zone. Returning for its fourth year, the Innovation Zone will facilitate cross-sector collaboration with a three-day programme of high-level events taking place from 13-15th November across its flagship forums.  

The past month has fueled the momentum behind COP29, and one thing is clear: it’s time. This was the focal message of Climate Week NYC, which took place during the last week of September in conjunction with the High-Level Week of the 79th session of the General Assembly, including the UN Summit of the Future, and the inaugural Global Renewables Summit. 

These discussions pervaded a sense of progress and unilateral commitment to addressing climate change and nature. The Pact for the Future, adopted at the Summit of the Future, shows a further recognition of the need for deep, rapid, sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5 degrees pathways. Critically, after an initial omission from a revised draft, it calls on parties to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner. It conveys a note of optimism, “we are at a time of profound global transformation... yet this is also a moment of hope and opportunity.”    

In another key milestone, the Declaration on Future Generations was adopted as part of the Pact for the Future, with a collective number of Heads of State and Government and high representatives committing to take the interests of future generations into account in their policy and decision-making for the first time.  

The Breakthrough Agenda Report 2024, the third publication since the Breakthrough Agenda was launched at COP26, reiterates the need for international cooperation to be fully leveraged to ensure the transition to lower emissions technologies is faster, cost effective, and more accessible and inclusive for all countries. For the first time, the Agriculture Breakthrough was published in a standalone report, finding that while efforts are being made, they are not yet delivering the levels of investment and deployment required to drive sufficient reductions in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  

Further, a plethora of reports and analyses from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have been released in the run up to COP29, including State of Energy Policy 2024 and Renewables 2024.  They show positive signals with cumulative government support for clean energy reaching almost $2tn since 2020, of which $290bn was earmarked for 2024 and the strong pace of global progress on renewables expansion.  

However, recent analysis from Earth Track uncovered that globally, at least $2.6tn a year is spent on subsidies that drive global warming and destruction of nature and biodiversity.  

This dichotomy is particularly dangerous after yet another hottest summer on record, and sequence of extreme weather events across the world, increased in likelihood due to human-induced climate change. It is therefore clear that the UN Climate Talks are gaining critical momentum as 2030 looms nearer. The underlying narrative of COP29, In Solidarity for a Greener World, built on two key pillars, raising ambition and driving action, will be vital for ensuring all Parties drive towards the same goal.  

Whilst world leaders engage in intense negotiations, it can feel far removed from the discussions taking place in the same city between non-Party Stakeholders. However, the COP29 Presidency’s Framework for Action, embeds listening to and engaging with a broad range of international stakeholders in order to deliver inclusive outcomes based on shared solutions. This is vital in practice to ensure Pledges and Declarations made by the Parties are implementable.

The Climate Action Innovation Zone will support this inclusive process and the COP29 mission to keep 1.5C within reach, facilitating cross sector collaboration, partnerships, capacity building and problem solving across the innovation ecosystem of technology and solution providers, investors, governments, cities and change makers. 

Within the Innovation Zone, three flagship events will take place. The Sustainable Innovation Forum, the world’s leading multi-stakeholder sustainability conference now in its 16th year, the Agri-Food Systems Summit, connecting global leaders and local changemakers tackling the biggest challenges in food and agriculture, and the Hydrogen Transition Summit, uniting stakeholders from across the hydrogen supply chain.  

Join us at the Climate Action Innovation Zone during COP29 in Baku 13-15 November to convene and engage with organisations and individuals at the forefront of driving tangible climate impact.  

Register here.