Climate, Finance and Investment Day at COP29

Translated by Alessandra Fumagalli

Last week, on November 11th, the annual COP, the 29th United Nations Conference of the Parties about climate changes started in Baku.This years, the key points of the discussions were the reinforcement of each country’s engagement in the approval of ambitious national plans for reducing the effects of climate change, but especially a better attention towards the finance, which is a key element for reducing the emissions, adapting at climate change, and facing losses and damages. ONe of the main themes of COP29 is indeed the financing one, which is necessary so that the countries can drastically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impacts from climate change, maintaining the temperatures under the 1,5 °C threshold.

On November 14, the fourth day of the Conference, finance and investments for climate was the main theme. In particular, the necessity for an annual commitment of big financings for the climate, by the public and private sectors, for a global “collective and quantified” goal. A UN report suggests indeed that the negotiations would concentrate on reaching 1.300 billion dollars by 2035 to be destined for climate change prevention and mitigation activities. In particular, during the Conference the inequality of North Countries and South Countries was discussed, and the most vulnerable countries asked for an annual investment of 1.000 billion dollars, through a transfer of funds from richer countries to poorer countries.

Also important was the European Union proposal, stating a “layered” financing approach, which combines both public and private financings, recognizing that the funds required to meet ambitious climate targets are unlikely to be met by government funding alone.

Moreover, together with the figures to be destined for the resilience to climate change and to investment methods, also public commitments by some public funds or important states have been shared, among them there is China, which in committed in allocating 24,5 billion dollars for climate projects in the developing countries, the United Arab Emirates, which want to invest 30 billion dollars in renewable projects and the World Bank which wants to destiny 45% of its financings (42 billion dollars) in adapting at the mitigation of climate change by 2025.

In particular, small developing island countries were at the center of the discussion, which are at the head of fighting climate change. These Countries want to be recognized as a special group with unique vulnerabilities and to have access to a new financing regime, which has to adapt to the extraordinary situation that these countries are experiencing. .

During the negotiations, there was a significant development in relation to carbon credit trading, with agreement being reached on the adoption of the Carbon Credit Standards. In particular, Carbon trading will permit countries and companies to offset emissions by purchasing “credits” such as an investment into a tree-planting project. The framework agreement paves the way for a unified market, operated by the United Nations.

In conclusion, the Climate, Finance and Investment Day has not been excluded by critics and protests, especially by climate activists, that, for the first time since the beginning of the summit, were able to organize their protests in the COP’s site. Among their requests, there is an intensification of the developed countries' commitment in financing of resources to be destined to the mitigation of climate change, and the compensation of losses and damages that the world is suffering.

Meanwhile, the Conference of the Parties is going on. Other updates about the adoption of definite agreements will come.

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