The UNFCCC COP29 Climate talks: A walk down of day one

This year's climate summit comes in the backdrop of a year marked by record-breaking heat waves, influential elections, and intense global tensions.

- Mrinmoy Chattaraj

Built on the commitments made at COP28, which emphasized reducing fossil fuel reliance, doubling energy efficiency, and tripling renewable energy deployment throughout the world.

This year's Climate Summit is significantly important as it's called the Finance COP, where countries will decide on the key 'funding mechanism' including a key decision on setting up a new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG) or the new annual finance mobilization target post 2025.

A deal for up to $1 trillion in annual climate finance for developing countries is at the top of the priority list for this year's COP29 meet. This will replace the $100 billion per year commitment that developed countries made in 2009 to support developing nations; a target which was later adopted and extended to 2025 in the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, key issues of the new finance commitment remain unresolved, including the scale of funding and questions around responsibility such as who will cover.

This new framework aims to replace the annual commitment of $100 billion by 2020 made by developed countries in 2009 - a target met only once, in 2022. This includes key finance for: adaptation fund, loss and damage fund, and energy transition fund, all of which remain critical for countries to meet climate targets and protect communities living at the frontlines of global climate change.

India currently holds a significant position as a 'distinguished climate leader' from the global south, pushing its voices and concerns. Particularly on the progress on climate finance and the urgent need for significantly enhancing trillions of dollars to combat climate change including the need for a mechanism to track the financing needs of countries.