Policy Backgrounders

An Inconclusive COP

November 22, 2024

Key Insights

The Conference of Parties to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (COP 29) has met in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the last two weeks. Agreement on proposals for climate finance have stalled on the question of volume of funding and expanding the countries that should be expected to contribute; the COP did, however, agree on a proposal to regulate carbon credits.

• By Friday morning, the COP had not agreed on a goal for future climate financing from the developed world; Brazil and others rejected requiring that China (still considered a developing country) and the advanced countries in the Middle East be required to pay for climate finance.
• Developed countries had offered $250 billion per year in climate finance from government, which developing countries rejected as inadequate, seeking $1.3 trillion per year from all sources.
• One accomplishment of the COP was a centralized global carbon program under the United Nations (UN) management to vet carbon credits meeting high environmental standards.
• Next year’s COP 30 in Brazil is likely to be even more contentious, with Brazil pushing alternative climate financing ideas including a wealth tax that are unacceptable to most Western countries and continuing debate over how to promote a transition away from fossil fuels.