What's on the agenda at COP29

The annual UN climate conference takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from Nov II to 22. In 2024, a key focus of COP29, dubbed the "Finance COP", will be money. This is a reference to the key deliverable, which is to adopt a new climate finance goal to help vulnerable and developing countries combat climate change. The Straits Times highlights a few key areas of negotiations expected at the conference and why they matter to South-east Asia.

International climate finance

WHAT IT IS

The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance will replace the previous goal, agreed upon in 2009, where developed nations committed to channelling US$100 billion (S$132 billion) per year by 2020 to meet the needs and priorities of developing countries.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) assessed that the US$100 billion goal was fulfilled only in 2022, after the deadline.

The UN evaluated that currently developing countries need around US$500 billion of climate finance annually. Estimates from other groups such as the World Resources Institute and African environment ministers go up to more than US$1 trillion a year.

With such a coffer on the table, the amount or quantum of the NCQG will be the key political question. Who the donor countries are and the ratio of public funding versus other sources of finance like investments, loans and private finance will also be on the negotiating table.

Another consideration is whether the NCQG will also include a sub-category for loss and damage. This refers to funds given to help compensate countries suffering from the impacts of climate change.

Discussions on loss and damage often take place under a separate negotiating track, and a major breakthrough at COP28 was the establishment of the loss and damage fund, which is currently at about US$790 million.

But at COP29, it is likely that discussions on loss and damage will spill into the NCQG track.

WHY IT MATTERS

Developing and least developed countries, including Small Island Developing States, disproportionately face the brunt of climate change impacts, especially with rising seas, storms and drought.

These Global South countries also have limited financial resources to switch from fossil fuels to renewables to decarbonise.