After the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, was concluded, three key agreements included tripling climate finance for developing nations to $300 billion annually over the next decade and significant advancements in international carbon markets. However, these outcomes were mixed with reactions, especially from developing nations. India’s representative expressed sharp dissatisfaction, declaring the finance goal as inadequate.
Out of COP29, one critical outcome was the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance, aligning financial flows with the fundamental principles of the Paris Agreement. Developing countries pledged to increase climate finance to at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035. However, the agreement left uncertainties about how these funds were to be sourced, loosely quoting sources to be both public and private. The initiative to devise concrete plans for this goal, named the “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T,” sets the stage for further discussions at COP30 in Brazil.
The agreement also included a specific target for developed countries to collectively mobilize $300 billion for developing nations by 2035. This marks a notable increase from the original $100 billion goal set in 2009, which remains unmet. As of 2020, only $83 billion had been mobilized, according to OECD estimates. According to Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, this new target is “an insurance policy for humanity,” but it would only succeed if timely and full contributions are made.
The highly criticized $300 billion figure was belittled by India’s Chandni Raina as “abysmally poor” and insufficient for climate action to actually be meaningful. The wave of escalating climate change impacts has long been called for in truer and more immediate financial commitments by the developing world.
Another achievement was the completion of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement with regards to the international carbon market mechanisms. Article 6.2 Agreement Standards on Centralized Markets and Country-to-Country Carbon Trading Environmental groups acknowledged this step as an important one, while there are still concerns regarding market integrity. Though WWF described the agreement as a major milestone, it added that it lacked adequate oversight and enforcement mechanisms, thus endangering the poor regulation of carbon credit trading.
Deals at the end of COP29 continue to underscore both progress in global climate governance and serious divisions over financial adequacy and market effectiveness.