Climate Change Meet at Cop29 : Ends in usual rhetorics
By: Dr VK Bahuguna
(The writer is the former Director-General
ICFRE in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of
India)
The Conference of Parties (CoP 29) organized by the United Nation
Framework Convention Climate Change was held in Baku, Azerbaijan in the month
of November 2024 and proclaimed success in many spheres and the President of
the Cop 29 Mr Mukthar Babayev, while making his opening speech exhorted the
delegates to “enhance ambition and enable action”. He in a very subtle
manner in these words explained the inaction by the world community and called
upon delegates to show leadership and move forward in solidarity and go to work
to save the tomorrow by listening to all voices. As it is well known by climate
change experts that since 2009 in all the CoPs the declaration has been
routinely recommending to the developed countries to financing the developing
countries particularly the vulnerable nation to combat climate change with a
100 billion a year climate change fund. But the developed countries led by
United States, Canada and European Countries
have been dragging their feet on this commitment and asking India and
China to contribute and cut down emissions. So far no even 3 % of the promised
funds were transferred to developing countries.
However, the proponents delegates have been couching the results of the meet by highlighting some of the positives howsoever, small they may be. Let us discuss some of their points. First, One of the touted achievements of COP29 was the reaffirmation of the pledge by to provide $100 billion annually in climate finance to developing nations till the year 2035 and after this hike the annual flow to $300 billion a year. This commitment is intended to support the global South in their transition to low-carbon economies, help them adapt to the impacts of climate change, and mitigate environmental risks. The decision also included measures to make climate finance more accessible, with a special focus on improving the efficiency of fund distribution mechanisms through multilateral channels. This they argue is expected to boost projects on renewable energy, infrastructure resilience, and climate adaptation in vulnerable regions. Second, At COP29, delegates agreed to advance the implementation of carbon markets under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6, which allows countries to trade carbon credits to meet their emission reduction targets. A breakthrough decision was reached to formalize international carbon trading schemes, ensuring they adhere to high environmental integrity standards and create a mechanism to oversee it. This move is expected to provide flexibility and financial resources for countries to meet their national targets, while encouraging the development of innovative technologies in carbon capture and storage.
Third, outcome of COP29 was
the establishment of a new funding facility dedicated to addressing loss and
damage associated with climate impacts. This facility will support countries
that are disproportionately affected by climate change, especially small island
nations and least-developed countries (LDCs). The fund will cover costs related
to both the immediate impacts of climate disasters, such as floods, droughts,
and hurricanes, as well as long-term impacts, including sea-level rise and
desertification. This decision followed years of advocacy by vulnerable nations
for greater financial recognition of the irreparable damage caused by climate
change, marking a milestone in the global response to loss and damage. Fourth, COP29
saw a notable push for enhanced international collaboration on the deployment
of renewable energy technologies. A new global partnership, dubbed the
"Renewable Energy for All" initiative, was launched with the goal of
expanding renewable energy capacity across both developed and developing
countries. Fifth, Countries adopted a set of guidelines to promote sustainable
agricultural practices that reduce emissions, conserve biodiversity, and
enhance soil health. These include incentivizing climate-smart farming,
improving water use efficiency, and supporting smallholder farmers in
transitioning to regenerative agricultural systems. Six, COP29 also placed
significant emphasis on protecting oceans and marine ecosystems, recognizing
their critical role in regulating the Earth's climate and supporting
biodiversity. An agreement was made to expand marine protected areas (MPAs) and
implement more stringent protections against overfishing, pollution, and
habitat destruction. One of the decisions taken was to involve the civil
society as a whole in climate change management. However, at a press briefing on 18 November,
executive director of Climate Network
Tasneem Essop said civil society had been “finding it particularly difficult to get
agreements from the UNFCCC secretariat for some of our actions and without civil society, we will not get the levels of ambition
that we need. We are here wanting to get an ambitious outcome on climate
finance. But, these halls, these spaces, are becoming pretty restrictive.” The biggest challenge is to convince the
civil societies of rich countries to participate in combating the challenges in
this field.
All said and done however, the 300 Billion dollar is a mirage as
well as too meagre since the estimated requirement is 1.3 trillion dollar and
further it is to be pooled up from public as well as private sources from all
countries including developing nations. India had opposed this situation in the
declaration. It will be interesting to see how it is discussed in CoP 30 in
Brazil. It is also not binding and all such agreements are ultimately
pooh-poohed by the rich countries. And several delegates raised the issue of Green
washing, when many countries give lip service in reducing their carbon foot
prints.
In nutshell, all countries of the South now decide how they can
help each other and force the CoP 30 in Brazil to adopt a genuinely
implementable agenda and full commitment of developed worlds. The South- South
cooperation in sharing knowledge and technology is paramount now so that at
least something is done at their level to reduce carbon foot prints. India any
way is on right path and achieving its targets of 2030 and also to become
carbon neutral by 2070. India thus has a natural claim to lead the South and
establish a charter for Climate resilient development paradigm to be followed
in our daily life as combating climate change should start from our home. 1012 words
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