Closing summary
It’s been a long day of negotiations and we’re going to wind up the blog now. The highlights (and lowlights) have included:
There has been deepening concern and division over the climate finance goal, with some countries saying there was little chance of agreement even as Azerbaijani officials were optimistic.
Solidarity levies emerged as a popular option for raising some of the money desperately needed for climate action. Possible targets could include cryptcurrency, the ultra wealthy, and frequent flyers.
US officials are still claiming that Biden’s energy revolution will be “unstoppable”, but the Republicans have been in short supply at Cop.
Back in Europe, members of the European Parliament voted to postpone a landmark deforestation law.
A new report from Global Witness found that 880,000 people in COP29 host Azerbaijan live within 5km of a gas flaring site.
Climate activist groups at Cop29 linked the war in Gaza to the climate crisis – arguing that western governments and big oil are driving both, with dire consequences for humanity. Elsewhere, protesters called to “make polluters pay” on a banner festooned across the terraces of the huge football stadium that is at the heart of the Cop29 conference.
And Climate Action Network’s report found that current policies would lead to a disastrous 2.7C of warming.
Updated
US President Joe Biden’s climate actions have sparked an unstoppable clean energy “revolution”, a US official told reporters today.
Jacob Levine, Biden’s climate and energy assistant, said the president has set into motion a “deeply shared and integrated vision” for the clean energy transition.
“Yes, we’ll focus on decarbonization, accelerating the transition,” he said. “But fundamentally, what we’re doing is we’re building a vision for economic growth, for job creation, for equitable distribution of the benefits that we’ll create from an investment perspective and from an economic perspective.”
Even when climate denier Donald Trump takes office early next year, the private sector will continue to drive up demand for carbon-free technologies, he said.
“The clean energy revolution is here, and it really cannot be stopped,” he said.
But though Biden expanded incentives for renewable power and electric vehicles, during his administration, US oil and gas production surged to record highs. When I asked Levine about this, he said: “If we can reduce the costs, make it economic to invest in clean energy and mitigation, then you will see the markets and businesses follow.”
Asked whether or not the US will submit a new “nationally determined contribution” — or decarbonization plan — to the UN during Cop29, Levine said officials are “looking hard at what may be possible.”
Politico yesterday reported that a submission is likely to pledge a new target soon.
The new plans aren’t due until February, shortly after Trump takes office. Some are pressuring the US to submit a new pledge quickly, especially because the incoming president has pledged to quickly pull the US from the Paris Agreement.
