Cop29: Key questions about the UN climate conference

– What is Cop29?

Cop29 is the 29th “Conference of Parties”. It is the latest set of UN climate negotiations, which take place every year.

Governments, business leaders, scientists and campaigners will gather this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, for two weeks of talks from November 11-22.

The meeting kicks off against a backdrop of deadly weather events, extreme conditions and record temperatures in recent months.

These include the floods in Valencia and Hurricane Helene that hit parts of the US in October – both of which scientific analysis showed were made more frequent and more intense by rising temperatures.

And this year is on course to break temperature records once again.

– What will be discussed?

Dubbed the “finance Cop”, one of the central issues at the conference will be agreeing new commitments on finance for poor countries to cope with climate change impacts and green their economies.

Wealthier countries have previously pledged 100 billion US dollars a year in private and public finance to help poorer nations, but experts have warned that figure needs to rise to one trillion dollars a year by 2030.

Reaching a consensus on money will be difficult, with nations so far disagreeing on almost all elements of the goal, like the amount of money needed, which countries should contribute, the types of finance and what it should fund.

But without a successful agreement on funding, the world will not be able to meet the scale of the challenge posed by climate change.

The talks will also focus again on boosting efforts to cut emissions amid increasingly dire warnings over the planet’s future.

During the summit, many countries are expected to publish their new national action plans to cut emissions – known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – including the UK.

These outline how each nation plans to help meet the goals of the 2015 global Paris Agreement, which aims to prevent the worst impacts of warming.

The latest NDCs, which will cover 2025 to 2035, are due ahead of Cop20 in Brazil next December.

So the spotlight will be on the level of ambition seen in these NDCs, including how they incorporate last year’s landmark deal to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems – agreed at Cop28 in Dubai.In recent months, some oil rich-nations have sought to pushback and frustrate progress to deliver on this agreement.

So the world will also be watching how Azerbaijan, as the host country and an oil-rich nation itself, will handle discussions around fossil fuel phaseout discussions.

– How is the world doing on climate action and finance?

Since the Paris Agreement, where countries pledged to pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the world has seen some landmark agreements, the green transition has truly crossed the starting line and almost 200 countries have put forward plans to cut emissions.

Greenhouse gases continue to rise and reached record levels of concentration in the world’s atmosphere in 2023, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said.

The UN has warned that existing policies are falling so far short and the world is on track for a “catastrophic” 3.1C of global warming.

In its annual report on the gap between the emissions cuts needed to limit global warming to 1.5C and what countries are doing and have pledged to do, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said the goal would “soon be dead” without a global mobilisation on a scale and pace never seen before.

UNEP also highlighted an “enormous gap” in financing for adapting to climate change with authors saying adequate financing for prevention is much cheaper than compensating for losses and damage.

– How Donald Trump’s election win could affect global climate action?

World leaders will be grappling with the fallout of the US presidential election, which is returning Donald Trump to the White House in what analysts say is a trend of climate scepticism in elections this year.

The president-elect said he plans to roll back green incentives domestically and take America – the world’s second largest emitter after China – out of the Paris Agreement again.

While President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration will be involved in the talks, Mr Trump’s victory could nonetheless overshadow the negotiations and dampen ambition from other nations.

– What is the UK’s position?

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is heading to the opening summit of Cop29, while Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will also play a key role for the UK during the talks.

It comes as Labour seeks to reposition Britain at the centre of global climate and nature diplomacy, marking a contrast from the previous Conservative government, which rowed back on green policies and axed the climate envoy position.

UK officials plan to send a strong message with its plans for climate action as it releases its NDC for 2035 at the summit, coming the hopes of galvanising ambitious commitments from other countries.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has recommended the Government commit to cutting emissions by at least 81% on 1990 levels by 2035 in its new NDC. The then-Tory Government followed the CCC’s advice on the target the last time around in 2020.

The UK is also expected to take a strong position on cementing the Cop28 agreement to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, including being clear on how the world will take forward and track progress on this commitment.

Awareness of the talks remains low among the UK public, according to PA Mediapoint’s opinion tracker, which found that two thirds of Britons are unfamiliar with the Cop29 conference

The Ipsos survey, conducted exclusively for PA’s non-media wire, questioned 1,088 British adults between September 25-26 on the upcoming conference.

Just 19% of respondents said it was likely that commitments agreed at Cop29 would result in action while more than half lack confidence that commitments agreed at the summit will make a real difference to tackling climate change.