After a lengthy speech by Simon Stiell and an even longer one by Mukhtar Babayev, the plenary is drawing to a close. My colleagues in Baku have written about developments this evening here:
We will have more coverage and reaction in the coming days, but we’ll end the liveblog here. Thanks for reading, and especially to those of you who got in touch by email or social media. See you in Belem!
Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, Panama’s special representative for climate change and who gave a barnstorming speech earlier in Cop29, says the global temperature target of 1.5C is dead with the level of climate finance agreed. He said developing nations had to accept the deal though, because Cop is the only forum for them to pursue the climate action so desperately needed.
“I think 1.5C was at the intensive care unit and it feels like that bed just broke and it fell on the floor. So we’re probably not going to be able to reach 1.5C based on this very low level of finance being provided by the developed world. That means death, that means misery, for our countries.”
“The gavel was hit way too fast and our heart goes out to all those nations that feel like they were walked over. Developed nations always throw text at us at the last minute, shove it down our throat, and then, for the sake of multilateralism, we always have to accept it, otherwise the climate mechanisms will go into a horrible downward spiral, and no one needs that.
This is the only space that we have to negotiate and to work towards our common goals. We accepted the text because we could not leave Baku without a text, but we’re not satisfied whatsoever.”
In his closing remarks Babayev said “we have reached the end of a defining chapter in the climate crisis”
He thanked everyone involved from negotiators to activists to “thousands of volunteers” to major applause.
“Since the beginning of this journey, people doubted Azerbaijan could deliver,’ he said, adding that they “hosted one of the largest cops with only 11 months to prepare”.
Deals made at Cop29 will “mean more coal plants decommissioned” and more “wind plants build” he said. On finance, he said “we had many difficult conversations” and insisted the presidency pushed countries to be ambitious.
He ended by telling viewers: “Never forget the power of your contribution” and that “protecting the planet is an act of solidarity”.
“India called out on how the decision let down peoples of the developing world, but was ignored when it objected, it was outrageous,” said Meena Raman, a veteran Cop observer and head of programmes of Third World Network. “The goal is paltry and does not guarantee any provision as it only about mobilisation. It is a great escape by developed countries of their obligation to clearly indicate what they will provide. [This deal] is nothing to cheer about: it is inadequate and insufficient to meet the needs and priorities of developing countries.
“This deal is the result of big bullying by developed countries to escape their obligations by a smoke and mirror decision that is unclear on what will be delivered. The US, who Trump has said is exiting the Paris agreement, had a huge influence in crafting a decision that is hollow and full of loopholes that shifts responsibility to developing countries through their own efforts. It is a do-it-yourself pact.”
Amar Bhattacharya, Vera Songwe and Nicholas Stern, the leading economists and chairs of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, have released a statement welcoming the finance agreement: “It is important that work starts immediately on scaling up external finance from all sources for developing countries towards a target of $1.3tn per year by 2035. The commitment from developed countries of $300bn per year by 2035 primarily from bilateral and multilateral sources of public finance is an important advance on current levels, but falls short significantly of the at least $390bn a year by 2035 which our work shows would be required to deliver the goals of the Paris agreement.
“It is important that work starts immediately on the urgency of delivery, the quality of and access to finance, and reducing the cost of capital. Therefore we welcome the emphasis in the agreement on the new goal on delivery, monitoring and transparency. It is crucial to work together to begin ramping up financial support from all sources immediately to assist developing countries in making stronger pledges for action.”
Mary Robinson, the former UN envoy and senior climate figure said: “Cop29 in Baku has been one of the most difficult Cops I can remember. It came very close to failure and it has ended with a disappointing deal. But it is a deal the world can build on in 2025.
“The $300bn per year committed by 2035 by rich countries at Cop29 falls $90bn short of the amount needed to implement the Paris agreement. This is nowhere near enough to support developing countries. But the intention in the deal to generate at least $1.3tn from a wider range of sources is right. This is an investment, not a handout.
“Cop29 was weak in transitioning away from fossil fuels. Oil-rich countries must see that their efforts to delay the inevitable will fail. The green energy transition has gained unstoppable momentum, driven by competitive prices and market demand.”
Updated
Some developed countries have made barely veiled swipes at Saudi Arabia over its obstruction of the text including an explicit restatement of some of what was agreed in Dubai last year – particularly, goals of transitioning away from fossil fuels, tripling renewable energy by 2030 and doubling energy efficiency by the same year.
Instead, the text just refers to paragraph 28, in which the transition commitment was made, calling on countries “to contribute to the global efforts referred to in paragraph 28”.
Speaking on behalf of the umbrella group of developed countries, Australia said it was disappointed that some countries had “stalled or stymied discussion” on those issues. But they said that countries were accelerating towards the global goal of net zero emissions and moving to capture the economic opportunities of renewable energy to create jobs for their communities.
Switzerland said Cop29 fell short on “meaningful ambition” and it regretted the text “had been watered down by some”. “We can and must do better next year,” they said.
Pakistan says the decisions reflected the spirit of multilateralism, but it would leave Baku “with mixed feelings and a heavy heart” as the goals put forward by demonstrated countries do not match needs of developing countries.
Its representative said it had faced devastating floods and heatwaves and melting glaciers, and too much climate finance was being given as loans. It meant the climate crisis was “converting into a debt crisis”.
“We demand climate justice. It isn‘t charity. It’s a moral obligation.”
Harjeet Singh, a highly regarded campaigner at Cops and at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, says the fight will have to go on:
“At Cop29, developed nations once again coerced developing countries into accepting a financial deal woefully inadequate to address the gravity of our global climate crisis. The deal fails to provide the critical support required for developing countries to transition swiftly from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy systems, or to prepare for the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, leaving them severely under-resourced.
“We must persist in our fight, demanding a significant increase in financing and holding developed countries to account for delivering real, impactful actions.”
After Babayev gavelled through the global stocktake, a negotiator from Chile registered his disapproval.
“In our view the text that we have in front of us lacks a number of very important elements,” he said, arguing it does not reflect the tools needed to inform climate plans (NDCs). “In our view the text does not enjoy consensus,” he said.
A Fiji negotiator said that in negotiations around the global stocktake, his nation has been asked to “ignore our needs” and “step backward.”
A Canadian minister also registered his disappointment, as did an Australian negotiator.
UN secretary general António Guterres, who at the start of Cop29 said the climate crisis had made 2024 “a masterclass in human destruction”, expressed disappointment:
“Developing countries swamped by debt, pummelled by disasters, and left behind in the renewables revolution, are in desperate need of funds. I had hoped for a more ambitious outcome – but this agreement provides a base on which to build. It must be honoured in full and on time. Commitments must quickly become cash. All countries must come together to ensure the top-end of this new goal is met.”
Simon Stiell, the UN’s top climate official, said: “It has been a difficult journey, but we’ve delivered a deal. This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country. But it only works if the premiums are paid in full, and on time. No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. We need to redouble our efforts on the road to Belém [Cop30 in 2025].”
Former US vice-president Al Gore, who has been a prominent voice on climate matters for decades, has weighed in:
While the agreement reached at Cop29 avoids immediate failure, it is far from a success. On the key issues like climate finance and the transition away from fossil fuels, this is — yet again — the bare minimum.
We cannot continue to rely on last-minute half measures. Leaders today shirk their responsibility by focusing on long-term, aspirational goals that extend far beyond their own terms in office. To meet the challenge of our time, we need real action at the scale of months and years, not decades and quarter-centuries.
This experience in Baku illuminates deeper flaws in the Cop process, including the outsized influence of fossil fuel interests that has hobbled this process since its inception. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been particularly obstructive. Putting the future of humanity at severe risk in order to make more money is truly disgraceful behaviour. Reforming this process so that the polluters are not in effective control must be a priority.
On climate finance, our primary task in the coming years must be to not only fulfil and build upon the financial commitments agreed to at Cop29, but to unleash even larger flows of affordable and fair private capital for developing countries.
Ultimately, coming out of Cop29, we must transform disappointment into determination. We can solve the climate crisis. Whether we do so in time to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement will depend on what comes next.
Wopke Hoekstra, the EU commissioner for climate action, has a far more positive take on the Cop29 deal, and it is received with zero applause, unlike the angry speeches from India and Nigeria.
“We all know how very, very difficult this was, and yet we do feel that the result of today is actually exceptionally important. We are living in a time of truly challenging geopolitics so seeing a deal truly is exceptional.”
“In my view, Cop29 will be remembered as a start of a new era for climate finance and we have worked hard with all of you to ensure that there is significantly more money on the table. We’re tripling the $100bn goal, and we feel it is ambitious, it is needed, it is realistic and it is achievable.”
Hoekstra also alludes to the row over whether countries like China and Saudi Arabia should contribute to climate finance, despite being classed as developing in UN climate talks:
“It is also a matter of fairness and of importance to us that all those with the ability to do so should contribute, and therefore it is good that we enlarge the contributor base on a voluntary basis.”
On the lack of explicit mention of last year’s commitment to “transition away from fossil fuels, he says: “It is less than what we have liked, but it is better than we feared.”
Babayev has gavelled through the mitigation and implementation work programme to relatively feeble applause. Meanwhile, reaction to the finance deal continues to pour in.
“The gap between this climate finance commitment and what’s needed is so big you could see it from space,” said Ben Goloff, senior climate campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s richly ironic that the United States and other wealthy, polluting nations can come up with funds for almost anything except helping poor countries cope with the climate chaos they’ve caused. Kicking the deadline to 2035 adds insult to the injury of a paltry $300bn, a fraction of the trillions needed. The Biden administration should be going out with at least a signal of its moral climate commitment, not copping out ahead of the Trump 2.0 disaster.”
Malawi’s negotiator said that for his country and other members of the Least Developed Countries bloc, the finance goal is “not ambitious.”
Rich nations have not committed enough public finance to the developing world, he said: “The figure is far less than what we need.” He said the text also does not include support for loss and damage. “As such we also want to register our reservation to accept this proposal as it stands,” he added.
The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, who has seemingly been everywhere at these talks, said:
This is a critical eleventh hour deal at the eleventh hour for the climate. It is not everything we or others wanted but is a step forward for us all. It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis.
“The new finance goal rightly reflects the importance of going beyond traditional donors like Britain, and the role of countries like China in helping those on the frontline of this crisis. If this finance is used in the right way, it could cut the equivalent emissions of one billion cars and could protect nearly a billion people from the impacts of climate change.
Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable. It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.
There is much more work to do if we are to keep 1.5C within reach and prevent climate catastrophe. We’ve pushed for ambition in Baku and have restored the UK back to a position of global climate leadership. We will keep up the pace, working with other countries before the world meets again in Brazil for Cop30. Only by doing this can we keep future generations safe and reap the benefits of the clean energy revolution.
More reaction:
Tina Stege, climate envoy for the highly vulnerable Marshall Islands, said: “We came in good faith, with the safety of our communities and the well-being of the world at heart. Yet, we have seen the very worst of political opportunism here at this COP, playing games with the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Fossil fuel interests have been determined to block progress and undermine the multilateral goals we’ve worked to build. This can never be allowed to happen.
Despite the barriers, we’ve fought hard and secured something for our communities. We are leaving with a small portion [$300bn] of the funding climate-vulnerable countries urgently need. It isn’t nearly enough, but it’s a start.”
“Countries seem to have forgotten the reason why we are all here. It is to save lives. It is to save lives. We have to work hard to rebuild trust in this vital process.
Avinash Persaud, an expert on climate finance at the Inter-American Development Bank, takes a realistic view: “It was hard fought over, but at $300bn per year led by developed to developing countries, we have arrived at the boundary between what is politically achievable today in developed countries and what would make a difference in developing countries.”
Here comes Nigeria, just as strong as the countries before it.
Its delegation representative said the gavelling through of the climate finance goal was “an insult to what the convention says” and $300bn a year by 2035 was a “joke”.
She noted that developed countries had the largest share of current and historic emissions and had agreed they had a responsibility to act, and that meant climate finance.
“I think we should rethink of it. We have a right as countries to decide if we accept this or not. I’m saying we do not accept this.
“It’s 3am and we’re going to clap our hands and say this is what we’re going to do. I don’t think so.”
Again, the president said the objection would be noted.
Updated
In an impassioned speech, Bolivia’s negotiator says that the climate finance text just gavelled through “enshrines climate injustice.”
The deal “consolidates an unfair system” where developed countries do not comply with their responsibilities to the global south, he said.
Those rich nations, he said, leave developing countries with “very limited resources” to meet their climate goals, he said. And though they do not provide sufficient climate finance, they do spend big to produce fossil fuels and make “massive business deals.”
He said global north countries focus on human rights abuses in their regions but inflate their military budgets and fund violence, including “genocide in Palestine.”
The crowd applauded wildly.
Babayev said their dissent will be noted in the report.
More reaction from the NGOs. Mostly fairly gloomy.
Mike Childs, head of policy at the UK Friends of Earth, gives credit to the UK delegation for playing a productive role.
“But these latest international talks failed to solve the question of climate finance - instead they have again kicked the can down the road. Developing countries are being hammered by climate extremes now, predominantly fuelled by the current and historic polluting activities of rich nations, like the UK. The problem of how to provide the trillions needed to support the countries being hardest hit by a crisis they’re least responsible for remains. Without this investment, which must be unlocked by wealthy countries stepping up to do their fair share, there can be no climate justice.
Friederike Röder, Vice President, Global Policy and Advocacy, Global Citizen
“COP29 has ended with an agreement on climate finance that fails to rise to the urgency of addressing the global climate crisis.
“Today, it is clear that the final COP29 agreement on the NCQG falls woefully short of meeting the pressing climate challenges of today, let alone the escalating challenges of tomorrow.
“However, we welcome the agreement on a Roadmap to Belém, which sparks a faint glimmer of hope. This must become a catalyst for real, transformative action
Accusations that the deal has been 'stage managed'
India has responded furiously to the climate finance goal being quickly gavelled through by the president, saying it is a “paltry sum” and it was not given the opportunity to express its strong opposition to it.
In a fiery address, Chandni Raina, the Indian representative said: “India opposes the adoption of this document and please take note of what we have just said from the floor of this room. We seek a much higher ambition from the developed countries.”
“We had informed the president we had informed the secretariat that we wanted to make a statement prior to any decision on the adoption but however - and it’s for everyone to see – this has been stage managed and we are extremely disappointed with this incident.
“We’ve seen what you have done … gavelling and trying to ignore parties from speaking does not behove the UN system and we would want you to hear us … we absolutely object to this unfair means of adoption.”
She was scathing of developed countries for failing to act to address the climate crisis, and said they should agree to advance their net zero targets and become net negative soon after. She said there was a lack of trust in the system.
“Unfortunately, the paper on the NCQG does not inspire trust that we will come out of this grave problem of climate change.”
The president said India’s position would be noted, but the acceptance of the climate goal stands.
Updated
Mohamed Adow, at Power Shift Africa and a key voice at Cops, says the Cop29 finance deal is a “disaster” and “betrayal” of people and planet.
“This Cop has been a disaster for the developing world. It’s a betrayal of both people and planet, by wealthy countries who claim to take climate change seriously.
“Rich countries have promised to “mobilise” some funds in the future, rather than provide them now. The cheque is in the mail. But lives and livelihoods in vulnerable countries are being lost now.
“The rich world staged a great escape in Baku. With no real money on the table, and vague and unaccountable promises of funds to be mobilised, they are trying to shirk their climate finance obligations. Leaving the world without the resources needed to avert climate catastrophe.
“This has been a shamefully led summit by Azerbaijan which deserves to be a global embarrassment for the wealthy countries and the Cop president that facilitated them to dodge their obligations.
The first to speak after the gavelling through of the finance goal, just before the representative from India, was a negotiator for Cuba. He said he “profoundly regrets the insufficient outcomes” of the finance negotiations.
The “scope of the decision,” he said, shows developed countries’ desire to “renounce” their responsibility to developing nations.
That responsibility is legally binding, he said.
The finance goal does not rectify the “continued dynamic of environmental colonialism,” he went on. And he said it provides “no guarantees of sufficient support” for developing countries’ climate action plans (NDCs)
His country has a “firm commitment to continue dialogue” on this issue, he said. And about rich countries, he said, “their climate debt must be paid.”
He spoke two gong hits over his allotted time. Many stood, cheered, whooped and yelled in response.
Updated
The Indian representative is speaking now and is absolutely furious. She accuses the presidency of gavelling through the deal over people’s objections. She has called the deal ‘stage-managed’ to whoops and hollers from other representatives.
Updated
Reactions to the deal and the way it was made are already coming in:
Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO, World Resources Institute:
“Despite major headwinds, negotiators in Baku eked out a deal that at least triples climate finance flowing to developing countries. The $300 billion goal is not enough, but is an important downpayment toward a safer, more equitable future. The agreement recognizes how critical it is for vulnerable countries to have better access to finance that does not burden them with unsustainable debt. And opens the door for a broader set of countries to contribute.
“The poorest and most vulnerable nations are rightfully disappointed that wealthier countries didn’t put more money on the table when billions of people’s lives are at stake. According to leading economists, $300 billion by 2035 does not meet the scale of what developing countries need to pursue a low-carbon economy and protect their citizens from mounting droughts, floods, and wildfires.
Updated
A deal has been gavelled
We have a deal. The COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev has just brought down his gavel on a financial deal which no one is very happy with but which is, nonetheless, a deal.
As Babayev gavelled through the deal there was long standing applause, cheering, whistling. negotiators embracing.
Updated
The plenary has resumed.
As provisions on gender were gavelled through — reportedly a tense subject throughout Cop29 — the crowd broke out in applause.
My colleague Dharna Noor is inside the plenary hall, where discussions were supposed to resume.
She reports: More than half an hour ago, attendees took their seats once again, expecting the plenary to reconvene.
Now, at 2:15 am, anxious delegates are milling about, civil society groups are chatting loudly, and some are even falling asleep.
The Climate Group, which works with big business and state and regional governments, is not usually outspoken, really does not like the deal on the table in Baku. The group’s Dr Champa Patel, said:
“With this paltry $300bn a year commitment, Cop29 has slammed the door in the face of developing countries. Azerbaijan’s lack of leadership didn’t help, neither did emboldened petrostate interests.
“To make matters worse, the [$300bn] target has no clear percentage for how much of this funding should be grants or concessions rather than loans. The science is simple: trillions - not billions - are needed every year. Showing little leadership, developed countries instead reinforced a broken fossil fuel-based model.
“True climate justice demands bold action: ending fossil fuel subsidies, taxing the wealthiest, and redesigning global financial systems to deliver trillions in climate finance every single year. Brazil [the next host nation] now has an almighty task on its hands. Cop30 must deliver transformative action, not recycled or failed promises. Anything less risks making these negotiations irrelevant in the fight for a liveable future.”
While the new climate finance text “calls” on “all actors” to scale up finance to developing countries to at least $1.3tn a year by 2035, it only “decides to set a goal” of at least $300bn a year by 2035, “with developed countries taking the lead”.
In an attempt to provide reassurance that progress to the $1.3tn will happen, the text “decides to launch the ‘Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T’, aiming at scaling up climate finance to developing countries to support low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development pathways and implement nationally determined contributions and national adaptation plans, including through grants, concessional and non-debt-creating instruments, and measures to create fiscal space, taking into account relevant multilateral initiatives as appropriate”.
That very long sentence may not be that reassuring. One civil society observer, Brandon Wu at ActionAid USA, called it: “meaningless gibberish, like some finance bros vomited a bunch of random words that sound cool”.
Updated
You can see the new texts here:
On climate finance, a first read reveals:
As flagged this morning, the core climate finance goal to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis has been lifted to $300bn a year by 2035, up from $250bn. This was the figure on the table when poor and vulnerable countries walked out of a meeting on Saturday afternoon, wanting 30% of funding dedicated to meeting their needs. That hasn’t happened but there are now more specific references to the least developed countries and small island states. It says the finance goal needs to especially “reflect the evolving needs and priorities” of these groups of countries as they are “particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and have significant capacity constraints”. It’s an indication they should be favoured. We’ll know soon how they react.
The text says developed countries will be “taking the lead”. Others will have their voluntary efforts recognised.
The broader $1.3tn goal remains in. It calls on “all actors” to work together to scale up at least $1.3tn in funding from public and private sources by 2035.
On the thorny question of the role of the major emerging economies who were not considered developed when climate summits began in the 1990s - including China, India, Saudi Arabia and other gulf states - it says “encourages developing countries to make contributions on a voluntary basis”.
The text recognises that parties can count “climate-related outflows” and “climate-related finance” mobilised by multilateral development banks towards achievement of the $300bn goal. Watch this one closely - it might be a sticking point with the Indians, in particular.
The text says the funding needs to be made alongside “meaningful and ambitious” emissions cuts and adaptation action.
Updated
The new text on the UAE dialogue on implementing the global stocktake (GST) outcomes is out – the GST is where the commitment to “transitioning away from fossil fuels” was made last year at Cop28.
The new text does not explicitly mention the transition away from fossil fuels, as many countries wanted, but oil-rich Saudi Arabia and allies did not.
Instead, it only refers to paragraph 28, in which the transition commitment was made: “Reaffirms the need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5C pathways and calls on [countries] to contribute to the global efforts referred to in paragraph 28.” That may be seen as backsliding on the commitment.
The text also gives a boost to fossil gas, referred to as “transitional fuels”. It says: “Reaffirms that transitional fuels can play a role in facilitating the energy transition while ensuring energy security.”
We’ll see what nations make of that when the plenary begins.
My colleagues Fiona Harvey and Dharna Noor are inside the plenary as ministers and delegates gather in groups to discuss the official texts that are now being released by the presidency before the plenary re-starts. Britain’s Ed Miliband is in conversation with the Germans.
It sounds like at least some progress has been made. Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, Panama’s climate envoy, told the Guardian the package on the table is “not perfect, but it’s something, and we need something. I see the light.”
He added: “I’m back to being optimistic.”
Updated
Adam Morton and Dharna Noor
Well. This is confusing. And everyone is genuinely confused.
The Cop29 president Mukhtar Babayev started the plenary by announcing people who have been elected to positions in UNFCCC-related bodies. Lots of rounds of applause.
Delegates in blazers and activists in keffiyehs continued to trail in as he spoke. Germany’s Jennifer Morgan walked around in the back of the hall and stopped to talk to Rachel Kyte, the UK climate envoy.
After that an abrupt announcement that the plenary would be resumed later tonight. There were looks of confusion on the floor, and the crowd burst out in chatter. Attendees began to whisper in confusion
The president then switched his microphone back on and said that they will need 20-25 minutes to finalise the documents.
Someone in the crowd shouted “what!”
And we’re waiting again.
Updated
Yet more announcements and gavelling from the Cop29 president Mukhtar Babayev, as another round of agreements goes through.
Updated
Delegates are now gathered in the plenary, but without an official text. This appears to be a high-risk strategy by the presidency, because it’s not clear that there is consensus on a potential deal here. Delegates seemed as confused as observers as they piled in. Ed Miliband and Sue Biniaz were among the first to arrive, spotted deep in conversation in the plenary hall quite a while before other delegations started to arrive. Many were clutching pieces of paper that appeared to be the new text which is being handed around, but hasn’t yet been published on the UNFCCC web site.
Many presidencies try unorthodox manoeuvres in the final stages of a Cop. For instance, at Sharm El-Sheikh, the Egyptians started inviting delegations in one by one to view a putative text, but as the delegations pointed out, it was impossible to tell whether they were all seeing the same text. The Egyptians were widely criticised for that one.
Whether this plenary is just the start of another round of intense negotiations, rather than an end point, is hard to tell so far. Is it the beginning of the end? Or just the end of the beginning?
Updated
The closing plenary has now been announed for 1230 Baku time – that’s in about 20 or so minutes. Of course, this could turn out to be yet another false alarm.
The puzzlement continues as delegates head back into the plenary, even though the new text does not seem to have been published. It seems as if drafts may have been circulating, however.
Marc Daalder, the Senior Political Reporter at newsroom.co.nz, says the text which is circulating is a leak not a draft.
“It’s leaked, not public, but includes US$300b by 2035 and a “Baku to Belém Roadmap” which would see further work over the next year on how the outer finance layer of US$1.3 trillion might be achieved.”
Everyone is extremely tired at this point.
Updated
Reports of possible progress at #Cop29 from Evans Njewa, chair of the Least Developed Countries group and Malawi’s climate chief.
He said at 10pm Baku time that the LDC has agreed a text on climate finance with developed nations and given this to the Cop presidency. The sum of money promised to poor, vulnerable nations by rich countries is the key issue for Cop29. The LDC group walked out of a meeting earlier, frustrated by a lack of progress.
“Two or three hours ago, we called for a temporary suspension of the meeting because we felt that the deal that we were being given was not good enough to save our people.”
We [the LDC group] are serving over 1 billion people in 45 countries in the world, and we need to get an ambitious deal here regarding climate financing was to support climate action, help people move out of poverty, get food security.
We have met with countries like the US, UK, Germany and others and we have agreed on language that we have given to the presidency. He will be looking into that in the next few minutes, and we hope we’ll get what we are looking for.”
Njewa said the negotiations on climate finance have been going on for three years.
“We have met 11 times, and then we set up another process, and met three times, and we presented all our issues and positions to the leaders, to the chairpersons, the Cop presidency. But then we thought that things got diluted and last night, this morning, some things were taken out by other [countries]. We just wanted to say, please remember, this is what we presented.”
Updated
Following our colleague Adam Morton’s post earlier on that Chris Bowen, the Australian environment minister, was on his way home, it turns out that the New Zealand Climate Change Minister Simon Watts actually left on Friday, the New Zealand newsroom is reporting.
Watts apparently had a scheduled trip to Antarctica. However, New Zealand’s head of delegation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade official Todd Croad, is still in Baku.
Updated
Conference in deadlock, according to Brazilian environment minister
“Unfortunately we’re in a situation now where we have a deadlock,” Marina Silva, the Brazilian minister of the environment and climate change, said in a press conference on Saturday night.
Some compromises have been reached, including on carbon markets and adaptation. But “there are some remaining issues which are crucial,” she said, including efforts to foster a just transition, the global stocktake, and the key issue for Cop29: climate finance.
It was “only yesterday,” she said, that negotiators had access to a proposed “quantum” – a core climate finance goal for rich nations to provide developing countries, she said.
“We still have some issues which need to be properly addressed,” she said.
Negotiators have shifted their focus to other topics, but “we need to focus on what is essential in this Cop and not other topics,” she said.
A crucial hurdle at the summit, said Silva, has been the lack of “central leadership,” though she added, “I’m not saying it was just an issue of the presidency.”
She said Brazil came to Cop29 with an “open heart” and an “ambitious NDC” that was aligned with the 1.5C target, aiming to lead by example.
She called for countries to put forth strong climate action plans before their February deadline.
Updated
Some more reaction to the approval of Article 6. Sebastien Cross, the cofounder of ratings agency BeZero Carbon, said:
Breaking the deadlock on two years of negotiations on Articles 6.2 and 6.4 is a watershed moment. Operationalising the effective trading of decarbonisation outcomes is essential if we stand a chance of meeting net zero goals. Unlike the carbon markets of the past, this Article 6 agreement is built on stronger foundations, leveraging advanced data and cutting-edge technology to ensure global carbon trading functions with more efficiency and transparency.
Of course, further steps will need to be taken to implement Article 6 effectively – including the use of independent, risk-based ratings to bolster nation’s confidence in leveraging market mechanisms to achieve their climate goals. But with proper implementation, Article 6 will unlock billions in capital flows, a large part of which will go towards developing nations, bringing benefits above and beyond decarbonisation.
We are now just over 28 hours past the scheduled finishing time, meaning this is already the eighth biggest overrun in Cop history.
It is extremely unlikely that it will be resolved within an hour, so is likely to pass Glasgow’s 29 hours and 12 minutes at the least.
Parties at #COP29 are adopting as many decisions as possible at this point, but agreement on key issues remains outstanding We've now run longer than COP 29
— Earth Negotiations Bulletin (@IISD_ENB) November 23, 2024
We're now already running longer than COP 19, which went 27:00 hours over time https://t.co/CyuM5NjdDL pic.twitter.com/Uzq5AR25kr
With the approval of rules on carbon trading, the Paris agreement is finally complete just 9 years after the majority of the deal was struck.
Carbon markets are one of the most controversial parts of environmental policy, with widespread evidence that they have been largely ineffective so far at reducing and removing carbon in the atmosphere.
There had been major divisions between countries about how they should work. At Cop28 last year, the European Union blocked the agreement due to disagreements with the US about technical rules on the creation, trading and registry of carbon credits. Now, they have found compromise, potentially opening up a path for carbon to join oil, gold and other commodities on international markets in an attempt to reduce global heating.
During the plenary one particular huddle formed at the edge of the meeting, in classic Cop style. Susana Muhamad, the Colombian environment minister, can be spotted at the heart of the group, along with US negotiator Sue Binaz US, African Group chair Ali Mohamed, and negotiators from other African countries.
Updated
Carbon markets approved
Governments have reached a deal on carbon markets at Cop29, paving the way for country-to-country carbon trading and the creation of a regulated global market to meet Paris targets. Further technical rules will need to be sorted in 2025 but this is a major boost to carbon trading proponents following years of controversy.
If you would like to read more about what this all means, we prepared an explainer at the start of Cop29 on the good, the bad and the ugly of carbon markets.
The Cop presidency have now suspended the meeting, without giving any further details. We are told it will be resumed “later this evening”. It’s 9.33pm in Baku. Let’s see how that goes.
Updated
As the president keeps talking and confusion grows, John Podesta, the US climate envoy is now talking to various people on the floor. My colleague Dharna Noor has noticed him talking to the US delegation head Sue Biniaz who then headed out of the plenary room.
And Marc Daalder notes on X that he has also gone over to to Kenya’s seats to have a three-minute chat with African Group chair Ali Mohamed.
Updated
While the plenary carries on, Carbon Tracker are concerned that the talks are about to collapse completely.
Richard Folland, head of policy and engagement (and in Baku) said:
“With the talks on the verge of collapse at the eleventh hour the outcome of this COP is deeply disappointing, shockingly so on the key climate finance objective and on accelerating the transition away from oil, gas and coal. Strangled by the second highest attendance of fossil fuel lobbyists on record in Baku and with progress simultaneously blocked by oil and gas producer voices at G20 in Rio, this COP has taken us dangerously backwards on collective climate action as extreme weather events take their toll.
“It also raises the stakes acutely on the next round of NDCs, which will have to seize the moment if we are to have the slimmest chance of keeping to 1.5C this decade. It will also put a huge amount of pressure on Brazil and their Presidency of COP30 next year. Governments will need to submit ambitious NDCs and show how they can really deliver. An orderly transition to avoid climate chaos and financial meltdown is possible, but the time for it to happen is quickly ebbing away. The time for any more backsliding has passed.
“The suggestion that “decarbonising” the extraction and processing of fossil fuels will solve climate change is essentially a myth. Fossil fuels must be phased out to meet our climate goals. Action on operational oil and gas emissions – especially methane - is also critical. Yet current corporate targets have significant shortcomings, and thus underestimate the impact of corporates’ activities: generally they do not fully reflect methane’s role in driving short term warming and almost universally exclude emissions from non-operated assets in which companies have an equity stake.”
Our colleagues in Baku are reporting that the current events in the plenary are pretty surreal and reflect the state of negotiations here in Baku. Each climate summit, there are around three to four hours of incredibly boring procedural items that need to be approved by the plenary: reports from vitally important but obscure and little known meetings on complicated parts of the Paris agreement.
This bit usually takes place once the main deal has been reached, my colleague Fiona Harvey explains, but given the plenary has nothing substantive to approve at the moment, the Cop29 president Mukhtar Babayev appears to have gathered countries for the marathon approval session first.
Guardian reporter Dharna Noor, who is in the plenary hall, says delegates are leaning over to each other whispering between themselves, looking around in confusion about what is going on. Audience members are furiously trying to follow the name of texts and items that are being approved. There are giggles in the crowd as Babayev says he invites the gaveling through expressions of gratitude to Azerbaijan for Cop29.
In the meantime, the Azeri presidency is hoping that once this to-do list has been sorted, countries might have resolved their differences on climate finance and other items.
Updated
Marina Silva, the Brazilian minister of the environment and climate change, spoke from the floor, telling Cop it was “necessary to find the resources - finances - to comply with 1.5C. At Cop30, our objective will be to do what is needed to keep 1.5C in reach. At Cop30 in Belem, it will be a big challenge with effort from everyone here.” Holding the summit in the Amazon rainforest, a region on the frontlines of the climate crisis, will be a “turning point,” she said.
She pointed to the “difficult experience” in Baku, and said the conference needed to arrive at a “minimally acceptable result”. “It’s crucial that before we arrive at cop30, we arrive at an agreement between the global north and south. The feeling of urgency is key with this goal.”
She urged solidarity, and said delegates were “receiving a strong message each day from all of our citizens that we first need to realign with a sense of urgency and responsibility because we are the frontline that will save humanity from much suffering and save life on the planet”.
Belem would be the “Cop of Cops”, she said, and countries must come with NDCs - nationally determined contributions - aligned with 1.5C as there was “no more time to lose”.
“May we weave with the weavers of the Amazon and all the traditional peoples of the world…so we can weave and trust so we can have a better world and better planet for all life and human kind.”
Updated
Plenary is under way
The mood was tense as Cop29 president Mukhtar Babayev kicked off the plenary shortly after 8 pm on Saturday.
“The eyes of the world are focused on us. However, time is not on our side,” he says, encouraging compromise. He asks countries to keep their interventions short: three minutes max.
They are trying to approve procedural parts of the climate summit that have reached agreement.
“This is the final stretch you have all been working very hard and I know that none of us want to leave Baku without a good outcome,” he said. “However, time is not on our side.”
Dharna Noor
Updated
Key event
Meanwhile, reaction to the Guardian revelation that a Saudi Arabian delegate has been accused of directly making changes to an official Cop29 negotiating text, is coming in. It’s not good for the already embattled Azerbaijan presidency.
“Appalling behaviour by Saudi Arabia. A reminder that the Cop President is accountable to every nation not to an obstructionist petrostate,” said Catherine McKenna, former climate minister for Canada and chair of the UN group on net-zero emissions commitments.
Harjeet Singh, climate activist and at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said there was “an unholy alliance between the fossil fuel industry and wealthy producing nations”.
He said: “Climate negotiations are already burdened by a deep trust deficit, and any move to weaken the commitment to phasing out fossil fuels will have catastrophic consequences. Prioritising the interests of this industry over the lives of hundreds of millions of vulnerable people is nothing short of a moral failure. We must condemn these actions and protect the integrity of the multilateral process before it is too late.”
Romain Ioualalen, at Oil Change International, said: “It was clear from day one that Saudi Arabia and other fossil fuel-producing countries were going to do everything in their power to weaken the landmark COP28 agreement on fossil fuels. At COP29, they have deployed obstructionist tactics to dilute action on the energy transition.”
“While Saudi Arabia’s obstructionism is undeniable, we can’t forget that countries such as the US, Canada, or Australia are also expanding fossil fuel production and are being as obstructionist in the finance negotiations,” he said. “This isn’t about editing text - it’s about honoring commitments and protecting our collective future.”
As the delegates file into the main negotiating hall for the closing plenary, we have little idea what is going to happen following an afternoon of walkouts and disagreements. Time is of the essence. This could be a tactic from the Azeri president to force disagreements into the open and try to resolve them in front of the world, which is high risk. Let’s see.
As ministers and delegates enter the hall, they are greeted by activists holding signs telling the global north to pay up. Long queues of observers and the world’s media are zig zagging out into the corridor.
Delegates are now streaming into the plenary for what may be the final session of Cop. After some hours of discussion about whether the talks would continue into tomorrow, the opening of the meeting is an optimistic sign that perhaps, somehow, resolution can be found tonight.
Running a UN climate Cop is hard - you have to get almost 200 nations to agree. But countries, like the Cop29 hosts Azerbaijan, volunteer for the job, and there is growing unhappiness about their performance.
Earlier this week, Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister spoke to Canada’s National Observer. “The lack of ambition from the presidency so far is deplorable.”
“I think it is possible to have ambitious agreements regardless of where [COPs] happen, but there needs to be a willingness on the part of the presidency and the host country to be looking out for the interests of the commons, and not their self-interest.”Oil and gas account for 90% of Azerbaijan’s exports.
“I’m not saying that’s what the current presidency is doing, but they haven’t shown the type of leadership we’ve come to expect from a country that is hosting a COP,” Guilbeault said.
Today, German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said of one negotiating text: “The EU, along with the most vulnerable countries, small island states, the least developed countries as well as countries from Latin America and all other developed countries have clearly stated that the current text is unacceptable. We do not understand why the presidency is tabling a text in the end game that does not even attempt to balance interests.”
The Alliance of Small Island States, especially vulnerable to climate breakdown, also complained today of not being included properly in the talks after walking out of a key meeting in protest. “We have found ourselves continuously insulted by the lack of inclusion,” said Cedric Schuster, Samoan chair of AOSIS.
One activist, who could not be named, told the Guardian: “The good thing about [Azerbaijan] being an autocratic state is that you can have a total collapse here and leave with your popularity unscratched.”
Part of the blame for today’s chaos rests with recalcitrant countries. But the nations still in the negotiating rooms will be reluctant to criticise the presidency with which they still have to work, making the public criticism so far significant.
Updated
As momentum drains away again, people are settling in for what could be a long wait.
One of the key challenges facing the summit now is whether it will lose quorum. Simon Evans at Carbon Brief has usefully broken down what that means, and what the implications could be.
QUORUM: As the talks at #COP29 extend deep into overtime – amid chaotic scenes, confusion and walkouts by the LDCs and AOSIS – it’s worth reviewing the UNFCCC rules of procedure: Two-thirds of Parties must be present for decisions to be made (130/195 parties to the Paris Agreement, or 132/198 for UNFCCC).
COLLAPSE?: The risk is that even if there’s willingness to keep talking, many parties will be catching their flights home. Eventually, there will be too few to reach quorum. (This just happened at the biodiversity COP16 talks in Colombia.)
COP-BIS: If they lose quorum in Baku, our understanding is talks will have to be suspended pending a “COP-bis”, from the Latin word meaning “twice” or “again”. This happened at COP6 in the Hague, in 2000, which concluded the following summer in Bonn, at COP6bis.
Updated
The rumours of whether there will still be a plenary today continue. Early statements that the final plenary would happen at 1900 today were, as many feared, wrong. Now it could be eight, or even tomorrow.
Malcolm Bryan Stufkens Stelgado, who is leading negotiations for Honduras, just strolled out of the negotiators meeting.
“Nothing is happening in there,” he said.
The current goal for climate finance, he said, is not enough because it represents “money that’s already being mobilised,” not new climate finance. There is “no clarity” as to where things will end up, he said.
“Looks like it’s still going to be a long night.”
Updated
Revealed: Saudi Arabia accused of modifying official Cop29 negotiating text
A Saudi Arabian delegate has been accused of directly making changes to an official Cop29 negotiating text, it can be revealed.
Cop presidencies usually circulate negotiating texts as non-editable PDF documents to all countries simultaneously, which are then discussed. Giving one party editing access “risks placing this entire Cop in jeopardy”, said one expert.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is regarded by many as a persistent obstructor of action to cut the burning of fossil fuels at UN climate summits and has been described as a “wrecking ball” at Cop29.
Earlier on Saturday, a document was circulated by the Azerbaijani presidency with updates to the negotiating text on the Just Transition Work Program (JTWP). This aims to help countries move to a cleaner and more resilient future, while reducing inequalities.
The document was sent with “tracked changes” from the previously circulated version. In two cases, the document showed edits were made directly by Basel Alsubaity, at the Saudi Ministry of Energy, and the lead on the JTWP. It was not sent to other countries to edit, the Guardian was told.
One of the changes deletes a section of text reading “encourages parties to consider just transition pathways in developing and implementing NDCs, NAPs and LT-LEDSs that are aligned with the outcome of the first global stock take and relevant provisions of the Paris agreement”.
Catherine Abreu, director at the International Climate Politics Hub and Cop veteran, said: “All parties need to see presidency texts during this process as the negotiations proceed and this is generally done by circulating non-editable PDF documents to all parties simultaneously.
“Giving one party editing access to these documents, and a party known for its objective of rolling back the historic global agreement made last year to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy and energy efficiency, suggests a worrying lack of independence and objectivity and clearly contravenes both the spirit and the rules of this process,” she said. “This kind of behaviour from a presidency risks placing this entire Cop in jeopardy.”
Two groups – the Alliance of Small Island States and the Least Developed Countries walked out of key meeting on Saturday, saying they were not being consulted by the presidency.
German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, speaking on Saturday before the editing revelation, said: “We are in the midst of a geopolitical power play by a few fossil fuel states. We will not allow the most vulnerable, especially the small island states, to be ripped off by the few rich fossil fuel emitters who have the backing, unfortunately, at this moment of the president [of Cop29].”
A 2023 report from the Climate Social Science Network concluded: “One nation has had an outsized role in undermining progress at global climate negotiations, year after year: Saudi Arabia. The fossil fuel giant has a 30-year record of obstruction and delay, protecting its national oil and gas sector and seeking to ensure UN climate talks achieve as little as possible, as slowly as possible.
“Riyadh’s envoys are among the most active across all tracks of UN climate talks, frequently pushing back on efforts to curb fossil fuels”, it said. “Despite increased temperatures across Saudi Arabia and falling groundwater supplies, Riyadh has shown little sign of shifting strategy.”
The Cop29 presidency, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Saudi delegation have been contacted for comment.
As we wait for the next development, it’s worth reflecting on the fact that developing countries are already spending vast sums of their own money on tackling the climate crisis. Whatever finance is provided by the rich world must be regarded in light of that ongoing effort, according to the UN”s development chief.
Campaigners have repeatedly reminded delegates here that what developing countries are seeking is not charity. Developed countries caused the climate crisis through their burning of fossil fuels, and developing countries are now spending billions every year on boosting renewable energy, reshaping their economies, and trying to adapt their infrastructure to the impacts of extreme weather.
According to the International High Level Expert Group on climate finance, made up of leading economists, by 2030 developing countries excluding China can be expected to spend about $1.4 trillion a year from their own budgets on climate-related activities.
I caught up with Achim Steiner, administrator of the UN Development Programme, earlier in these talks, ahead of the current wrangles over texts at Cop29. “Developing countries are actually investing hundreds of billions of dollars a year already from their own taxpayers’ revenue, in climate action. It wouldn’t hurt or harm anyone on the other side of the table to acknowledge that. Because it kind of creates a more level playing field, and we get away from the zero sum game psychology.”
The figures involved might seem large, but are not in terms of the total global economy, he added.
“The $1.3 trillion [that is the figure representing the total finance flows to developing countries from the rich world by 2035, likely to be agreed at Cop29] is not an irrational order of magnitude, when looking at climate finance,” he said. “It’s not something that’s out of this world. It would allow a world of 8bn people to accelerate and raise their levels of ambition in decarbonising their economies.”
The money would not all be coming from developed country taxpayers, he added. “China, India and the emerging economies are essentially financing their climate transitions out of their own resources, their taxpayers’ money plus significant private sector and capital market investments. We need to help the public understand that this is not talking about $1.3 trillion of taxpayers’ money from the Global North, being syphoned out and invested in the developing countries or the Global South.”
Money from public financial institutions in the developed world that goes towards climate finance would also help to “mobilise” large amounts of private sector investment, he added. “It is guaranteed to have a remarkable multiplier function in terms of additional capital that will mobilise to make these transitions happen. And again, this is not imagined. We already have a decade behind us where we have invested trillions in renewable energy infrastructure and expansion of clean energy production, that in significant parts was financed by the private sector, by enterprise, by investors, by capital markets.”
More money was also needed on adaptation, Steiner said. “Adaptation is essentially a tax on development. They have to spend money to stay in the same place because they can’t invest in expanding the infrastructure, education, digitalisation, because they’re essentially having to protect their current development assets from either destruction or even having to invest in earlier recovery and reconstruction. Take Pakistan; one flood event cost $30bn, probably much more even if you take the cumulative damage.”
He also warned against too much private finance being provided in the form of loans that could push countries deeper into debt. “These are debts that are in a sense being accumulated on top of an already unsustainable debt in many of these economies. And that’s why we need to push as hard as possible, that for those countries, if you want them to pivot forward, that a significant amount of that funding and financing is actually more than just concessional. It should be grant based or close to being the equivalent of grant based financing.”
Updated
'We are still taking part in the process' say AOSIS
Fiona Harvey and Patrick Greenfield
The Alliance of Small Island States has just sent out a statement saying that they are still taking part in the process.
“Let me make it clear that the Alliance of Small Island States remains committed to this process and are here in the spirit of good faith in multilateralism to secure the best deal that will protect not just us, but the world from the worst impacts of climate change.
“We have presently removed ourselves from the stalled NCQG discussions, which were not offering a progressive way forward. We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be INCLUSIVE. If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”
Meanwhile ministers and country representatives are still leaving the meeting room after groups representing vulnerable nations walk out of finance talks. Many have nothing to say to the media as they shuffle past but a handful are speaking.
Kevin Conrad, a delegate with Honduras, said “Aosis and LDCs walked out of the meeting saying that their needs weren’t being considered. To be fair, everyone understands they are the most vulnerable but they are asking for very hard fixed numbers dedicated to them and there is a lot of resistance from developing countries. They are asking for 30% of all finance,” he said.
Ali Mohamed, from Kenya representing the Africa group, “If we don’t have a deal where the developed world are made accountable for the delivery of grant based and concessional finance that is at least $600bn and the rest mobilised... Anything lower than that will not help the world tackle climate change.”
The Guardian understands many donor countries do not have a mandate to go above $300bn for the climate finance target. Lots of developing countries are pushing for far more. The G77 and China are pushing for at least $500bn, according to one source.
Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s environment minister, said: “The text is still not very clear. There is a divide on responsibilities. We need to make that very clear. The text should be clear. The responsibility should be clear and the quantum [the amount of climate finance on offer] should be stepped up.”
Updated
The summit is now well into overtime in Baku. The sun has set and there is still no sign of a deal. Delegates, especially those from developing countries, will need to start heading home to all corners of the Earth. The Guardian understands that the Azeri presidency is asking country representatives who are able to stay until Monday. But most nations will be long gone by then and there will likely not be enough negotiators in the room for a legitimate deal.
Just two weeks ago, the same happened in Cali, Colombia; countries were negotiating well into the night on biodiversity targets when they ran out of time. A head count was called and there were not enough countries in the room, so the meeting ended abruptly in disarray. Behind the scenes, there are growing fears this could happen in Baku. Many delegates are here with their luggage ready for flights in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Our understanding is that two thirds of the Parties to the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, or the Paris Agreement would have to be present in order to be able to make a Cop decision.
This is something to watch in the coming hours. It is not going well.
Updated
Chris Bowen, the Australian minister for climate change, has already headed to the airport. He was booked to go today, so that he could get back to Australia in time to attend parliament on Monday. The rest of the Australia delegation is still here though.
Adam Norton and Dharna Noor reports that John Podesta, the US climate envoy, has just left the meeting too. As he left, followed by a press pack and security, activists shouted “Shame!” and “You promised to pay your fair share”.
“I’m hoping this is the storm before the calm,” Podesta told journalists.
Jennifer Morgan, the German representative for international climate policy, also left, looking grim. When asked if she could comment, she refused.
Updated
Walkout by the AOSIS and LDC groups
Patrick Greenfield and Fiona Harvey report:
Two groups – the Alliance of Small Island States and the Least Developed Countries – have thrown down the gauntlet at a meeting. They’ve now said they want a guaranteed 30% of climate finance, and then walked out of meeting room three.
Speaking with journalists after walking out, representatives from Sierra Leone and Samoa expressed their frustrations with talks. “We have just walked out. We came to this Cop for a fair deal. We feel that we haven’t been heard and there is a deal to be made. We are not being consulted. That’s why we are here but we are here to negotiate. We walked out because at the moment, we don’t feel that we are being heard,” said the representative from Samoa.
“We are the countries that are probably the most affected by climate change. Our countries have not contributed a lot but we are affected. That’s why we are here to negotiate on behalf of our countries. We’ve made our needs and wants known. We are being ignored. That’s why we’ve walked out,” said the representative from Sierra Leone.
Mohamed Adow of Power Shift addressed the press outside:
What has happened here today is that the moral compass of the world, the most vulnerable countries, have walked out of the negotiations after they failed to honour the promises they had made to provide climate finance. The rich world has refused to honour their obligations.
As a result the Least Developed Countries and the Alliance of Small Island States have walked out of the negotiations and say they cannot associate themselves with the draft which was put forward by the presidency.
The Guardian understands that Aosis and the LDCs only walked out of the finance meeting, not Cop29 itself.
Updated
More reaction to the news that the offer will be increased to $300bn from Laurie van der Burg, at Oil Change International:
“This is embarrassing. The increase from $250 billion to $300 billion a year is not a meaningful increase from the previous $100 billion by 2020 goal that rich countries failed to meet. What’s more, this is not debt-free finance. It allows rich countries to dodge the climate debt they owe to the Global South by relying on the private sector, creating a debt trap for countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis. Research is clear that the Global South needs trillions to meet climate goals, phase out fossil fuels, and to brace itself for and recover from climate impacts. “Rich countries must seriously step up and pay the trillions they owe to the Global South. They can raise over $5 trillion every year for climate action if they end fossil fuel handouts, tax the super rich, and change unfair global financial rules.”
Updated
'The climate crisis is upon us and we did not cause it'
“What will I tell my children when I get back home? You left us for two weeks, for what? For nothing! Not even peanuts!” As the talks limp on, with increasing anger and chaos on all sides, activist Tetet Lauron at COP29 calls out the despair of developing countries as the negotiations grind on.
“Enough with the lies. We see through you. This farce has been going on not just in the last two weeks but for the last thirty years.
“You say this is crunch time? We’ve passed that line long ago. Our people have been dying. Our people have been displaced. The climate crisis is upon us and we did not cause it.”
Updated
Meanwhile dozens of activists gathered in the Cop29 halls on Saturday afternoon, holding signs that said “pay up or shut up and “trillions not billions.”
The protestors called on developing countries to “hold the line” if they do not win a deal that represents their interests.
“No deal is better than a bad deal,” they chanted.
At a media huddle after the protest, climate activist Brandon Wu from the NGO ActionAid said: “The reason that we’re saying no deal is better than a bad deal is not just because of the number. A bigger number with the text that we have right now is just a bigger empty promise.”
The new text, he said, aims to address some of activists’ concerns. But “it’s not good enough,” he said, because it doesn’t call for enough finance to be “provided” instead of “mobilized”.
In UN climate jargon, mobilized finance can include private sector co-investing with governments. My colleague Fiona Harvey wrote earlier this afternoon about the difference.
Ministers and their staff are trying to get into a crucial meeting between heads of delegations here in Baku, which still has not begun. Only ministers/heads of delegation and a member of staff are allowed. I am waiting outside with Guardian colleagues and the rest of the world’s media.
Some staff have left their possessions inside but UN security is not letting anyone else in the room. Representatives from Malawi, Russia and elsewhere are stuck outside. Colombian environment minister Susana Muhamad just tried unsuccessfully to get an advisor through.
There’s a lot of waiting around and chaos in Baku, and it does not sound like much is being resolved in the meantime.
A representative from Mali, the only one in the room, just had a lengthy back and forth with security about whether he’d be allowed back in if he went to the toilet. In the end, the conclusion was that he would be.
The UN climate chief Simon Stiell has had to come outside and tell security to get on with it. “The meeting will not start until everyone is ready,” those waiting outside are told.
Updated
Party delegates are deep in negotiations at the Cop29 conference center.
Outside a meeting room, Panama’s special representative for climate change, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez said his mood had changed in the past two hours of negotiations.
“I thought we were getting a deal about 2 hours ago,” he said. “Now I don’t even know what’s happening, I don’t think no one knows what’s happening.”
He said rich countries have failed to put forth an acceptable goal for climate finance. A draft text released yesterday placed the figure at $250bn by 2035, and he said the nations have not budged.
“It’s still $250 which is just ridiculous,” he said “It feels like we just wasted the past two hours.
Even if the goal increases to $300bn by 2035 – an increase to which the Guardian learned developed countries have agreed — he said that would not be enough. If the goal is that low, he said, countries should agree to meet it sooner.
“ I cannot tell you what we’re going to accept or not,” he said. “But if they want to go low then they also need to reduce the timeframe.”
Climate finance is a key issue for Panama, he said. Developed nations “must pay” to help the global south cope with climate damages.
“It’s their responsibility. They must pay for it. We are the victims of this and it just keeps getting kicked and kicked and kicked.
EU minister excoriates “geopolitical power play by a few fossil fuel states”
Fiona Harvey and Damian Carrington
It’s getting heated at Cop29 and German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has excoriated “geopolitical power play by a few fossil fuel states”.
“We are in the midst of a geopolitical power play by a few fossil fuel states. Their playing board is the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable countries. We as a European Union will not accept a deal that comes at the expense of those who suffer most from the effects of climate crisis.
“We will not allow the most vulnerable, especially the small island states, to be ripped off by the few rich fossil fuel emitters who have the backing, unfortunately, at this moment of the President [of Cop29].
“Climate finance and CO2 reduction are closely linked. We, as the EU, therefore increased our financing commitments until 2035. We are continuing to work on building bridges. We are living up to our responsibilities, including as historical CO2 emitters.
What we are seeing here is the last stand by the old fossil fuel world. What we need now are conditions across continents for climate justice, for viable climate financing and for continuation of the path we took in Dubai [when nations agreed to ‘transition away from fossil fuels”, making clear, there’s a vast majority of countries from all around the world believing that climate justice is in the benefit of all and that the strong shoulders carry the heaviest burden.”
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is a persistent obstructor of action to cut the burning of fossil fuels at UN climate summits. It’s been described as a “wrecking ball” at Cop29. It usually works behind the scenes. But on Thursday, Albara Tawfiq from the Saudi delegation told delegates at Cop29: “The Arab group will not accept any text that targets any specific sectors, including fossil fuels.”
Updated
No surprises here, but the draft text released on Friday included what can be read as confirmation that the Australia-Turkey stand-off over who will host Cop31 in 2026 will not be resolved in Baku and will be pushed into next year.
The countries both announced their bids to host two years ago, and the public and private lobbying has escalated in recent weeks. Australia says it wants to host the event in partnership with Pacific island countries.
The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, stopped in Ankara on his way to Azerbaijan to try to persuade his counterpart, Murat Kurum, to step aside. And the issue was raised during a meeting between the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on the sidelines of G20 in Brazil last week.
Australia is understood to have the support of at least 23 of the 29 members of the Western European and Others Group that will decide where the event is held, including the UK, US, Germany, France and Canada, but Turkey has doubled-down on its campaign. Its representatives have pointed to Australia’s substantial coal and gas exports – it is the third-biggest fossil fuel exporter – and suggested a federal election due by May next year raises uncertainty over the Australian bid.
Bowen responded publicly this week, telling the Guardian that “clarity would be good for everyone involved” – a diplomatic way of urging the Turkish to exit the race – and pointing out only six of 29 Cops have been held in the southern hemisphere. The last Cop in the Asia-Pacific was Bali in 2007.
None of this has moved the needle. The draft text released Friday said a decision should be made no later than June, when diplomats hold a mid-year climate meeting in Bonn, but it is possible it may not be made until the world reconvenes in Belém, Brazil for Cop30.
Spotted just now by my colleague Adam Morton, the EU commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, the US climate envoy John Podesta, the UK’s net zero secretary of state Ed Miliband, and Australia’s Chris Bowen are seen here deep in urgent conversation in the corridor at Cop29.
Updated
Hallo, this is Bibi van der Zee, taking over from my colleague Ajit Niranjan. Everything is still on hold in Baku as the conference waits for a new draft text, following a wholesale rejection of the terms offered in the last one. The enormous gap between what developing countries have asked for and what developed countries are prepared to offer is very far from being bridged.
In theory there will be a final plenary later today, but in practice who knows? We’ll be bringing you all the updates as they come.
If you’re looking for a heartwarming story away from the frustration, boredom and tension of high-level climate negotiations, my colleague Patrick Barkham has a touching piece on a 12-year-old girl in Slovenia who is helping to bring back singing cicadas to the UK.
Take a minute to tune out of Cop coverage and read it here.
The new buzzword at Cop29 is “transformational” adaptation
Adaptation often gets overlooked, but the new buzzword at Cop29 is “transformational” adaptation.
What this means is taking a holistic view of adaptation, and making sure it is addressed systematically by countries, instead of approaching it on an ad hoc, project by project basis.
So for instance a country could take steps to overhaul its urban planning system to ensure that new buildings are not being constructed in areas vulnerable to flooding, or change its land use policies to ensure that forests are kept standing, which can protect against mudslides and flooding, and wetlands are intact, to hold more water when rains come, which can protect against drought.
Some forms of adaptation can also help to reduce emissions, and some emissions reduction techniques can also help with adaptation. For instance, helping people in poor countries to use solar cookstoves can reduce their dependence on firewood – which cuts emissions and helps keeps forests standing.
I spoke to Eamon Ryan, the Irish environment minister who is co-chair of the adaptation work here at Cop29, ahead of the draft texts which are now being argued over.
“As we can already see, devastating climate change is coming, even if we stop emissions tomorrow,” he said. “So we need to prepare. And we need to do that particularly in developing countries, because they are the ones being hit most and they are least able to prepare. Many of them also have very small emissions.”
Adaptation had often been an afterthought at Cops, he added. “This whole process has tended to focus on emissions, rightly in some ways, but hasn’t put adaptation centre stage.”
The most vulnerable countries are most in need of finance for adaptation, but most climate finance has gone towards middle income countries or those already able to adapt.
Adaptation is not one of the most controversial issues at Cop, as most countries agree it should have more focus. The issue of “transformational adaptation” has also caught people’s imagination, Ryan said. “It’s a more radical, a more systemic approach,” he said. “We need to progress that. We need to ensure that is now worked on. I think it’s going to be quite big in future.”
He said it was important for Cop29 to recognise the vital role of adaptation in tackling the climate crisis. “Our job is to make sure we keep it centre stage,” he said.
Updated
Patience appears to be wearing thin in the final stages of negotiations. Speaking about the just transition work program, which tries to help countries move to a cleaner and more resilient future while decreasing inequalities, German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said:
“The EU, along with the most vulnerable countries, small island states, the least developed countries as well as countries from Latin America and all other developed countries have clearly stated that the current text is unacceptable.
We do not understand why the presidency is tabling a text in the end game that does not even attempt to balance interests.”
An agreement on carbon markets has all but been agreed, new texts indicate. They are at the draft decision stage, meaning that they are “not 100% but, like, 99%” ready to go, according to Carbon Brief’s Simon Evans.
The deal will set out the rules for country-to-country carbon trading and provides for the creation of a regulated global market to meet Paris targets, although technical rules for how this works will be sorted out in 2025.
If you would like to read more about what this all means, we prepared an explainer at the start of Cop29 on the good, the bad and the ugly of carbon markets.
Climate campaigners do not appear to have been impressed by the prospect of a higher finance target of $300bn.
Jasper Inventor at Greenpeace said the money that rich countries are understood to have agreed to overnight was “still not enough.”
“We are running out of time and a much better deal quickly needs to be put on the table to match the urgent and escalating needs of developing countries,” he said.
Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, said the overall number is “effectively meaningless” because it doesn’t say who should pay.
“Where will the pressure be to deliver that number if it’s not clearly stated to come from the rich world?” he asked.
Adow said:
Developed countries here are trying to unpick the delicate balance agreed in the Paris Agreement. They want to remove any responsibility from themselves to provide climate finance and instead just have everyone making voluntary contributions to the pot. That would be a fundamental re-writing of the entire UN negotiation process and rip up previous COP agreements.
Rich countries have caused the climate crisis. Ever since the first COP it has been recognised that they owe a climate debt to the countries of the global south, to help them cope with the climate crisis they have created. They must not be allowed to dodge that responsibility.
As Cop29 grinds on, something to look out for is how much finance is “provided”, and how much is “mobilised”.
They might sound like the same thing, but not at a Cop. Finance that is provided comes from developed country governments or publicly funded institutions in the form preferably of grants, and highly concessional loans – loans at very low rates of interest.
Finance that is mobilised can include private sector co-investing with governments.
So the EU provides about $30bn of climate finance every year – but it mobilises a further $7bn through private sector co-investing.
Poor countries, quite reasonably, want their climate finance in the form of grants, to avoid getting further into debt. But some countries are deeply reluctant to provide money in this way. France, for instance, through its AFD (Agence Francaise de Developpement) historically provides nearly all its climate finance in the form of loans.
The reasoning behind this is that it gives recipient countries more incentive to spend the money in the most efficient way, and gives the providing country some form of accountability over how the money is spent. (It is also treated differently in the developed country’s own budgets and accounting.) The big downside is that it counts towards debt for developing countries, which is why many rich countries are more willing to talk about grants, and deals such as “debt for climate swaps”.
It’s also important to note that the habit of preferring loans is not confined to developed countries – China also provides most of its “south-south” cooperation in the form of loans, on which developing countries are currently paying more than $300bn a year in interest alone.
At Cops, there are no hard and fast definitions of climate finance. That is partly in order to give both donors and recipients some degree of flexibility. It is also because there is little agreement on what such a definition should be. If climate finance had to be defined, several participants told the Guardian, this Cop would have to go on for months longer rather than (hopefully) mere hours.
What definitions there are go back to the 1992 UNFCCC, the Paris agreement of 2015, and decisions of various Cops in between.
For instance, article 11 of the UNFCCC states: “A mechanism for the provision of financial resources on a grant or concessional basis, including for the transfer of technology, is hereby defined. It shall function under the guidance of and be accountable to the Conference of the Parties, which shall decide on its policies, programme priorities and eligibility criteria related to this Convention. Its operation shall be entrusted to one or more existing international entities.”
And in the Cancun accords of 2010, paragraph 98 states: “Recognises that developed country Parties commit, in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, to a goal of mobilizing jointly USD 100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries; 99. Agrees that, in accordance with paragraph 1(e) of the Bali Action Plan, funds provided to developing country Parties may come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources; from Decision 1/CP.16.”
Social media boosters for Azerbaijan’s authoritarian regime are working the weekend, praising President Ilham Aliyev for his “strong political will” which “played a decisive role in our success today”.
That will confuse the delegates at Cop29, who remain a long way from any success, and who also remember Aliyev’s extraordinarily undiplomatic statements at the start of the summit. He doubled down on oil and gas being a “gift from God” and then accused France of brutal suppression and killings in the Pacific island region.
France, which has supported Armenia in its conflict with Azerbaijan, then cancelled the attendance at Cop29 of its top climate official. Countries hosting Cops usually put aside bilateral disagreements in order to act as neutral brokers in the negotiations.
The Guardian revealed in October an army of apparently fake social media accounts boosting Azerbaijan’s hosting of Cop29 .
The hidden $100bn issue
Our reporters Dharna Noor and Patrick Greenfield have hit upon a problem that makes the sums of money on the table at Cop29 considerably smaller than people may first think.
The proposed text on climate finance released at Cop29 makes no mention of inflation. This makes a massive difference to the scale of finance being discussed.
In 2009, developed countries agreed that by 2020, they would collectively mobilize $100bn per year to support developing countries’ decarbonization and adaptation plans. US dollar inflation was 20.6% in this time period.
But when monitoring contributions, inflation was not taken into account, the OECD confirmed to the Guardian. As a result, the target became easier to meet over time, though countries met it late.
The Cop29 draft texts released on Friday set a new proposed finance goal: $250bn by 2035. But they will not rise over time to keep pace with inflation.
This has a very big impact on numbers, as the analysis shows below.
$100bn in 2009 dollars would equal $145.3bn today if we adjust for US inflation in this time period.
Returning to the proposed $250bn target, that becomes $345bn if we assume the average annual inflation rate of the US of 2.38% over the last 15 years, according to a back-of-the-napkin calculation from my colleague Patrick Greenfield.
“Agreeing a figure of $250 billion mobilised per year by 2035 would not only be inadequate but shameful. Adjusted for inflation, it represents virtually no increase in public finance from developed countries beyond the $100 billion commitment made 15 years ago,” Salomé Lehtman, project and advocacy advisor at Mercy Corps, said.
And $390bn annually – the number proposed in a study by top academics as fair and in line with the Paris agreement – would in 2035 be $538bn in today’s money, assuming the same rate of inflation.
“Targets will need to adjust for inflation over time,” Amar Bhattacharya, the executive secretary of the UN’s independent high-level expert group on climate finance and co-author of the study, told the Guardian.
Put another way, the proposed $250bn target for 2035 is really a $197.6bn target, assuming the same inflation rate. This means the target is not even a doubling.
“The proposed climate finance goal in the latest text is an embarrassment,” said Collin Rees, a manager at the climate justice NGO Oil Change International, who shared calculations from the IMF with the Guardian.
As we await new Cop29 draft texts on Saturday morning, I chatted to Thoriq Ibrahim, climate, energy and environment minister for the Maldives, who is leading negotiations for the small island nation.
Yesterday’s drafts were “totally unacceptable,” he said.
The $250bn goal put forth for climate finance was “absolutely not at all adequate,” he said, and “barely an improvement” on the $100bn goal set in 2009.
“If you look at the $250 billion with inflation, it’s almost same goal,” he said.
Rich countries have privately agreed to up the goal to $300bn, the Guardian learned this morning.
The minister said he could not comment on whether that figure would be acceptable until it is officially on the table.
But the number is not the only concern for vulnerable countries, he said. Small, vulnerable island nations have said they must be allocated at least $39 billion a year to cope with the costs of the climate crisis.
No such provision was in yesterday’s draft text, Ibrahim noted.
“We raised this concern with the presidency,” he said. “They listened, they said that they will be talking with the rest of the groups.”
Upon the release of yesterday’s text, activists said that “no deal is better than a bad deal” and said they had heard growing calls for a walkout.
Ibrahim declined to comment on their remarks, but said: “We want to [leave] this Cop and go home with an acceptable, agreeable outcome, but one has to be on the table.”
Marching in silence with their arms crossed high, activists from around the world protested the draft deal at the Cop29 venue last night.
“Pay up or shut up!” the campaign group Demand Climate Justice said in a post on social media.
Safa’ Al Jayoussi from Oxfam described it as a “shameful failure of leadership”.
“The Cop29 Presidency’s top-down ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ approach has sidelined progressive voices,” she said.
Poor countries reacted with anger to a draft $250bn climate finance target on Friday, dismissing it as a “joke”. It prompted a diplomatic effort behind the scenes to increase the offer from rich countries. The Guardian understands they agreed to bump the offer to $300bn.
The new figure would still fall well short of what is being demanded by poor countries, who have done little to change the climate but suffer the brunt of violent weather.
Updated
As negotiators hash out a final deal at Cop29, Palestinian officials and activists are reminding attendees about another crisis: Israel’s siege of Gaza.
“The Cop [meetings] are very keen to protect the environment, but for whom?” said Ahmed Abu Thaher, director of projects and international relations at Palestine’s Environment Quality Authority, who had travelled to Cop29 from Ramallah. “If you are killing the people there, for whom are you keen to protect the environment and to minimise the effects of climate change?”
Activists are calling the war on Gaza an “ecocide” and demanding countries stop sending fuel to Israel.
For more, check out my story from this morning.
Rich countries agree to raise climate finance offer to $300bn a year – sources
Negotiators have told our reporters on-the-ground that rich countries have agreed to up their offer on the crucial issue of climate finance. Read the full story from Adam Morton, Fiona Harvey and the rest of the team here.
Major rich countries at UN climate talks in Azerbaijan have agreed to lift a global financial offer to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis to $300bn a year, as ministers met through the night in a bid to salvage a deal.
The Guardian understands the Azeri hosts brokered a lengthy closed-door meeting with a small group of ministers and delegation heads, including China, the EU, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, the UK, US and Australia, on key areas of dispute on climate finance and the transition away from fossil fuels.
It came as the Cop29 summit in Baku, which had been due to finish at 6pm Friday, dragged into Saturday morning. A plenary session had been planned for 10am but did not eventuate.
The developing world reacted with anger to a draft $250bn climate finance target on Friday, dismissing it as a “joke” and far below the amount that is needed to help the poor shift to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather. It prompted a diplomatic effort behind the scenes to increase the offer from developed nations.
Multiple sources said the EU and several members of the umbrella group of countries including the UK, US and Australia had indicated they could go to $300bn in exchange for other changes to a draft text released on Friday.
The Guardian understands that the UN secretary general, António Guterres, was ringing round capitals to push for a higher figure. Japan, Switzerland and New Zealand were understood to be among the countries resistant to the $300bn figure late on Friday.
A $300bn offer would still fall well short of what developing countries say is necessary, and would likely still draw sharp criticism if included in an updated text expected later on Saturday. But with some ministers booked to leave Baku in the hours ahead, countries face a decision on what they are prepared to accept.
Several ministers from rich nations have argued that a deal may be easier now than next year, when Donald Trump will be US president and right-wing governments could be returned at elections in several countries, including Germany and Canada, and they do not want to make a commitment they cannot meet.
Claudio Angelo, from Observatório do Clima in Brazil, said rich countries had “clearly arrived to ditch their obligations”. “After three years of negotiations the first time we ever saw quantum in the text was yesterday,” he said.
He said $300bn in grant funding was “way, way below” what developing countries needed. “Remember, many of them are already in deep debt,” he said. “To have climate finance as the current text proposes will only entrap those countries more.”
According to the draft text of a deal circulated on Friday, developing countries would receive at least $1.3tn a year in climate finance by 2035, which is in line with the demands most submitted in advance of this two-week conference.
But poor nations wanted much more of that headline finance to come directly from rich countries, preferably in the form of grants rather than loans. They said the offer of $250bn coming from rich countries, with few safeguards over how much would come without strings attached, was much too little.
Updated
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) went to Moscow to talk to Russia about oil yesterday, as delegates in neighbouring Azerbaijan struggled to bring the climate conference to a close. The dialogue highlighted energy security and “the risk of underinvestment”, according to OPEC.
The group posted a video on social media last night, set to dramatic orchestral strings, with pictures of OPEC’s secretary-general Haitham Al Ghais and Russia’s deputy prime minister Alexander Novak at the 9th meeting of the OPEC-Russia Energy Dialogue. It said the two groups had examined oil market developments across short, medium and long-term horizons, and that “key topics included the ongoing climate change negotiations at Cop29.”
Russia, which is not a member of the 12-member group but is part of the larger OPEC+ alliance that pumps half the world’s oil, said it will continue to be a “key player” in the oil market.
Earlier this week, Al Ghais echoed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s comments in praise of oil and gas.
“They are indeed a gift of God,” he told the Cop29 summit on Wednesday.
Updated
It’s looking like Cop29 may run way over time. The UN climate body which runs the talks with the host nation just told me: “While the schedule is subject to change due to ongoing negotiations, the final plenary is expected to begin in the early afternoon between 1pm and 3pm (Baku time).”
They are also planning to have food outlets open after 8pm this evening and into the early hours of Sunday.
The latest finishing Cop was in Madrid in 2019, as this chart from Carbon Brief shows – it finished at 1.55pm on the Sunday. All Cops are meant to end on Friday.
Updated
Greta Thunberg: People in power 'about to agree to a death sentence'
The world’s most famous climate campaigner, Greta Thunberg, does not attend Cops these days, and her post on X about Cop29 shows why. She says Cop29 is failing and it “up to us as a global collective to take the action we so desperately need”.
As the COP29 climate meeting is reaching its end, it should not come as a surprise that yet another COP is failing. The current draft is a complete disaster. But even if our expectations are close to non-existent, we must never ever find ourselves reacting to these continuous betrayals with anything but rage.
The people in power are yet again about to agree to a death sentence to the countless people whose lives have been or will be ruined by the climate crisis. The current text is full of false solutions and empty promises. The money from the Global North countries needed to pay back their climate debt is still nowhere to be seen.
Those in power are worsening the destabilisation and destruction of our life supporting ecosystems. We are on track to experience the hottest year ever recorded, with the global greenhouse gases reaching an all time high just last year.
The COP processes aren’t just failing us, they are part of a larger system built on injustice and designed to sacrifice current and future generations for the opportunity of a few to keep making unimaginable profits and continue to exploit planet and people.
With every negotiation, with every speech made by a world leader and with every agreement they sign, it becomes clear that it is up to us as a global collective to take the action we so desperately need and show where the leadership truly lies. They are not going to do it for us, as this COP29 yet again proves.
Updated
As we wait for signs of movement in the negotiations, the conference centre is a ghost town this morning. Gone are the crowds of delegates and rammed food halls. The organisers are busy dismantling pavilions and the network of tents built around the Olympics stadium here in Baku. Competition for food, water and toilet roll is a growing issue.
This morning, the New York Times ran a story about Singapore beer made from recycled toilet water on offer at Cop29. In a few hours, maybe that will start to seem appealing. Air conditioning units have been turned up to 30C in some areas, literally turning the heat up for negotiators.
Everything about the venue is telling those that remain to get on with it, reach a deal and leave. But at the time of writing, no time for a plenary is listed on the TV screens. We continue to wait.
As we wait for the new text to land it’s worth looking back at the closing summary from yesterday, when the conference should have ended.
Yesterday’s closing summary:
Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and twice a UN climate envoy, said rich country budgets were stretched amid inflation, Covid and conflicts including Russia’s war in Ukraine, and warned that poorer countries might have to compromise.
The UK government pledged £239m to tackle deforestation
In an unusual intervention, the UAE stepped in and warned that the world must stand behind a historic resolution made last year to “transition away from fossil fuels” as the Saudis tried to block the language.
The draft text was published, but met a pretty hostile reception. It called for $1.3tn by 2035.
Civil society called it “an absolute embarrassment”
Few countries have spoken up so far, but their reactions have been mixed. The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has responded to the latest text from the presidency, describing it as a “genuine attempt”. But Amb Ali Mohamed, Kenya’s Special Envoy for chair of the African Group of Negotiators called it as “totally unacceptable and inadequate.”
Climate talks enter overtime
We are into overtime at Cop29 in Baku and we are still waiting for signs of compromise. It could be a very long Saturday in the Azeri capital, where a plenary is currently scheduled to take place at 10am local time.
The developing world reacted with anger to a draft $250bn climate finance target yesterday, dismissing it as a “joke” and far below the amount that is needed. Behind the scenes, a diplomatic effort is underway to increase the offering from rich nations to make sure the deal survives.
The Guardian understands that the UN secretary general is ringing round capitals to push for a higher figure. The EU is among those open to $300bn but Japan, Switzerland and New Zealand do not want to raise the offer, it is understood. Let’s see who budges, if anyone.
Among donor countries, there is anxiety about what Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency will mean for climate finance, and they do not want to overcommit to a figure they cannot deliver. This, combined with the potential of right wing governments in France, Germany, Canada and elsewhere, means that things are in the balance in Baku.
Updated
Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Cop29 climate conference, I’m Ajit Niranjan. After a fortnight of negotiations, talks overran well past the Friday evening deadline as countries negotiated over what should appear in the agreed text.
The key question is over climate finance: how much money should be provided to poorer countries by wealthier ones, and what form it should take.
We will be bringing you all the latest developments as they happen. You can also get in touch with us at cop29@theguardian.com.
Updated
