Reflections on COP29

Jack Graham is Context’s Deputy Editor for Funded Projects, leading our global reporting on the just energy transition, nature and biodiversity, and artificial intelligence. Context is the Foundation’s media platform, providing news and analysis on climate change, the effects of technology on society, and socio-economic inequality.

The annual COP climate summit is a unique event to cover as a journalist. Hunting for interviews, you have tens of thousands of people all in one place: politicians, climate experts, activists and negotiators from nearly 200 countries. Surrounded by so many new contacts and stories, you’re faced with endless split decisions on where to spend a short supply of time.

CO29 in Azerbaijan was a crucial moment for the world to agree an ambitious finance goal to help developing countries. In the hottest year on record, delegates were under intense pressure as they scuttled around Baku’s state-of-the-art Olympic Stadium. Its packed rooms and corridors only made that pressure feel more intense.

When I first arrived, I wanted to find out about the elephant in the room: Donald Trump. His political comeback in the United States cast a shadow over COP29. Who better to ask than President Biden’s climate advisor Ali Zaidi, and Catherine McKenna – Canada’s environment minister during Trump’s first term. They told me the shift will inevitably weaken the U.S. role but, as McKenna said: “no one country can stop progress on this”.

Whether or not the U.S. election made a difference, hopes for a breakthrough deal were low – despite the need for developing nations being so high. My colleague Bhasker Tripathi sat down with a Pakistani minister Syed Murad Ali Shah who is dealing with overwhelming damages after the major floods in 2022. We experienced a mood that was subdued in Baku, as distrust rankled between countries. Ultimately, the global target agreed of $300 billion per year by 2035 falls well short of the more than $1 trillion required.

That’s not to say nothing fruitful came out of COP29. A deal was agreed on rules for carbon markets, the loss and damage fund is getting moving, and the impact of critical mineral mining on vulnerable communities was put on the map. Meanwhile, potential solutions are everywhere. I spoke to Bezos Earth Fund CEO Andrew Steer about how AI could protect nature, and joined panels on boosting the solar energy supply chain and changing the conversation around food.

But people are losing faith in the ability of COPs to save the planet. Climate multilateralism is fraying at the seams. Can next year’s COP30 – being hosted in the Brazilian Amazon in Belém – turn the ship around?

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