One delegate's experience at COP29

Each year, world leaders gather to discuss the steps that ought to be taken to ensure the integrity of the biosphere. This is known as the Conference of Parties, or COP. This year, COP29 was held in Baku, Azerbaijan where governments of 200 countries gathered to debate on Climate Finance, which no doubt amounts to a significant hurdle for the Global South when it comes to transitioning away from fossil fuels. It is important to note that 85% of the population lives in the Global South. I got the opportunity to attend the COP29 as an appointed delegate by and on behalf of Society for Low Carbon Technology.

The current climate fund has allocated $120 billion per annum to countries in need, but it falls short of the $1.3 trillion that is required for developing countries to actually fight the impact of climate change. According to various estimates, this amount needs to rise up to $9 trillion by 2050.

Source: Euronews

The COP is usually divided into Green and Blue Zones. The former is accessible to the general public, while the latter is designated to the UNFCCC accredited organizations and their representatives. One of the best things that I noticed, starting from the airport, was the presence of young volunteers who spoke fluent English (as language is often an issue in Azerbaijan). All of them, I later learned, were university students. Another appreciable element was the availability of free transport for the COP29 attendees to go to the venue in the beautiful Baku Olympic Stadium, including buses to and from the airport. This was my third time in the City of Winds, but the experience was entirely different. Baku Olympic Stadium was converted into various halls, side-event rooms and plenary sessions.

The overall mood of the city was professional. Even at midnight during my nocturnal strolls, I could see people wearing the UNFCCC themed Blue Zone cards, laughing, eating, and walking. Networking opportunities were galore, and continued as I received my last visiting card just before embarking on my last leg to the airport - the networking didn’t stop. There was another interesting development – thousands of people had gathered on the beach of the Caspian sea, the world’s largest lake, to see a dead whale. Many thought that it was washed ashore, however after further reading, it was revealed that it was actually an art installation by Captain Boomer. This shows that human relation with nature has lost its balance. To be true, it was very sad to see such a sight in person.

Interestingly, my time in the Green Zone was as productive as in the much coveted Blue Zone - which can have one too many people for meaningful networking. In the Green Zone, I met the CEO of Faba International, Maryam Gozal, who is working on an incredible product called ECO19, that also links with the Responsible Consumption and Production Goal #12 of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Eco19 is a user-friendly mobile app designed to empower individuals on their sustainability journey by tracking environmental impact, offering personalized eco-tips, and rewarding eco-friendly actions with gamified challenges and incentives. Econar is a cutting-edge enterprise platform that helps businesses optimize resources, reduce waste, and achieve sustainability goals through AI-powered analytics, real-time monitoring, and compliance-ready reporting. Together, these platforms bridge individual responsibility and corporate accountability, creating a comprehensive ecosystem for sustainable living and operations.

The energy in the Blue Zone is altogether different. It looked like a mini central London, with people walking  anywhere, sounds of boots and heels filling the makeshift halls. The pavilions of various countries showcased the exceptional commitment and design thinking in conveying their work along with a message on climate change and energy transitions. In this regard, pavilions of Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Canada, Singapore, Uzbekistan stood out. Pakistan’s pavilion, however, failed to highlight the main concerns. For a country that is facing the worst AQI index in the world; is one of the top 10 most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change, will be one of the 5 water-scarce countries in the world, and peddling Smog Diplomacy, the fact that none of this was mentioned or highlighted at the pavilion, was worrisome. Regardless, we managed to get a good amount of attention in the sessions held in the Blue Zone.

The overall purpose of this COP29, however, seems to have failed. Against a demand of $1 trillion in climate finance, the developed world promised a meagre $300 billion. It is imperative to note here that the total amount of spending on weapons per year is $2.44 trillion.

Another failure of the COP29 is that there will be no grant or grant-equivalent funds, and all the money that would be provided to the developing countries will be in the form of loans. The Adaptation Fund has been trimmed down to one-third of its original $300 million target. There was also considerable criticism on the fact that around 500 carbon capture lobbyists were granted access to COP29. The CCS (carbon capture and storage) technology is controversial and questionable in its impact on reducing emissions.

The last COP28, held in Dubai, had a clear call of transitioning away from fossil fuels but the current one didn’t have anything similar, with the Dubai deal being just alluded to in passing. The fact that Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev called fossil fuels a gift from God also didn’t help (I personally believe that the role of oil and gas should NEVER be criminalized - you can read my article here about the economic imperative of developing countries - as such, this statement doesn’t strike me the same tone to my ears as it has done with many). Many senior negotiators were dissatisfied with the event and there are now calls to even change this format, which was always going to be a tough task (gathering 200 governments under one roof).

There have been some positive developments too, such as the approval of new carbon credit trading rules under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Overall, it was an immense learning experience for me and the fact that I got the opportunity to meet several energy and climate experts, attend multiple side events and relish the winds of Baku, made it a wholesome journey.

For someone who belongs to the Global South, it is disappointing to learn that the developed countries have once again failed us in terms of providing financial support to make our energy mix greener and cleaner. Oxfam’s report highlights the irony of this travesty as can be seen from the chart below.

Source: United Nations

This underscores the need to continue to stress upon and infuse the concerns of the Global South in what is an otherwise Eurowestern centric debate - something that is my personal mission. We are also trying to promote this through our work at Society For Low Carbon Technologies.

illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.