Thousands of people from around the world will gather next week in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for the annual UN climate summit COP29.
But since each year’s summit introduces its own set of promises, plans, and paperwork, it can be hard to follow the rationale of these discussions.
Here’s what you need to know about why COP, short for Conference of the Parties, matters:
Why do we have an annual COP?
Because climate change will affect every country, whether it contributed to the problem or not, it demands global solutions that can address the diversity of needs of different countries.
In the 1992 signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which began global negotiations, the parties that agreed to it had difficulty distinguishing between rich countries that would be responsible for large-scale warming and This has led to poorer countries, who suffer disproportionately from it.
In other words, the conversation is built around the idea that countries that have benefited most from industrialization should bear the most responsibility for dealing with the resulting warming.
Addressing that imbalance has become more difficult as the economies of developing countries have grown and richer countries bear the costs of competition, including war.
What can be achieved from the annual summit?
The summit provides a venue for countries to discuss solutions including energy policies, financing plans or financing needs.
World leaders also participate in almost every summit, sending an important signal that their countries are committed to the UNFCCC goals. The presence of leaders also helps hold countries accountable to each other for past promises.
But the annual COP is just the main event in an ongoing process. Country representatives meet throughout the year to build support for new climate action proposals before the COP, where they can be agreed upon by consensus of all countries.
Is the process working?
While each summit aims to build on global climate action from the previous year, the event also provides an opportunity for countries to show their citizens that the problem is being addressed.
Importantly, this practice has seen countries count and report their emissions, and has helped transfer hundreds of billions of dollars in climate aid to developing countries.
By requiring decision-making by consensus, this process also ensures stronger global support for agreed actions, improving the likelihood of implementation of these actions.
But progress in curbing global warming has been too slow. Since the COP summit began in 1995, both emissions and temperatures have continued to rise, meaning the world is on a path to extreme climate change.
Supporters of the UNFCCC process say it is no substitute for negotiating major socio-economic changes to attempt to limit global warming.
What will we get from COP29?
This year’s summit is expected to yield some key agreements: a new annual climate finance target, an agreement to make multilateral carbon credit markets work, and a promise of more aid money for countries already hit by costly climate disasters. .
In addition, negotiators will continue to work on technical agreements that will build on work done at previous summits.
Outside the formal COP framework, groups of countries can launch their own initiatives or pledge funding for specific projects. Companies will likely announce commercial deals related to climate action, while financiers will try to raise cash for climate investments.
What is Azerbaijan’s role in COP29?
Azerbaijan holds the presidency of COP29 this year, when the rotating COP presidency fell to Central and Eastern Europe.
Next year Brazil will serve as Latin America’s host for COP30.
As host of the summit, a country works throughout the year to pursue pre-summit negotiations and lobby other governments for ambitious action. This gives the Presidency an important part in defining the summit’s priorities.
What else happens in COP?
Beyond country negotiations, the COP summit provides an opportunity for anyone to draw attention or raise funds towards their cause.
Hundreds of side events have seen activists and scientists rub shoulders with industry lobbyists and banking giants.
The public-facing conference hosts panel discussions on topics ranging from ocean acidification to designing carbon offset projects.
An exhibition hall, called the “Green Zone”, hosts discussions led by national delegations, non-profit organizations and corporations.
While some summits have seen large organized protests, such as the rally of thousands outside COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, the last two summits in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have only allowed protests in designated, closed areas.
Azerbaijan, which has also banned public protests, will see little civilian action outside the high-security conference venue.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
