Thousands of people from around the world gather next week for COP29, the UN’s annual climate summit, in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.
But because each annual summit produces its own set of promises, plans and paperwork to be fulfilled, the rationale for these discussions can be difficult to follow.
Here’s what you need to know about the importance of COP, short for Conference of the Parties:
Why do we have an annual COP?
How climate change will affect all countries, regardless of whether they contributed to the problem or not,
In signing the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which began global negotiations, the parties that agreed to it strove to differentiate between the rich nations that caused most of the warming and the richer countries. poor people who suffer disproportionately from it.
In other words, the negotiations are structured around the idea that countries that have benefited most from industrialization should bear the greatest responsibility for combating the resulting warming.
Meeting this imbalance has become more difficult as the economies of developing countries have grown and rich nations have dealt with competing costs, including war.
What can an annual summit achieve?
The summit provides a place for countries to discuss solutions, including energy policies, .
Almost all conferences are also attended by world leaders, sending an important signal that their countries are committed to the goals of the UNFCCC. The presence of leaders also helps countries hold each other accountable for past promises.
But the annual COP is just the main event in an ongoing process. Country representatives meet year-round to build support for new climate action proposals before the summit, where they can be agreed upon by consensus of all countries.
Is the process working?
While each summit aims to advance the previous year’s global climate action, the event also offers countries a chance to show citizens.
Importantly, the exercise allowed countries to count and report their emissions and helped move hundreds of billions of dollars in climate aid to developing countries.
By requiring decisions by consensus, the process also ensures strong global support for agreed actions, increasing the chances that these actions will be implemented.
But the pace of progress has been too slow to contain the rise in global temperatures. Since the COP summits began in 1995, both emissions and temperatures have continued to rise, meaning the world is on the path to extreme climate change.
Supporters of the UNFCCC process say there is no alternative to negotiating major socioeconomic changes to try to limit global warming.
What will we gain from COP29?
a new annual climate finance target, an agreement to make multilateral carbon credit markets work, and more aid money promised to countries already hit by costly climate disasters.
Additionally, negotiators will continue to work on technical agreements based on work done at previous summits.
Outside the formal COP structure, groups of countries could launch their own initiatives or pledge funding for specific projects. Companies will likely announce trade deals related to climate action, while financiers will try to raise money for climate investments.
What is Azerbaijan’s role at COP29?
when the rotating presidency of the COP fell to Central and Eastern Europe.
Next year, Brazil will host Latin America for COP30.
As conference host, a country works year-round to conduct pre-summit negotiations and pressure other governments for ambitious action. This gives the presidency an important part in defining the event’s priorities.
What else happens at a COP?
In addition to negotiations between countries, the summit offers a chance for anyone to try to draw attention — or funding — to their cause.
Hundreds of side events bring activists and scientists together alongside industry lobbyists and banking heavyweights.
Public-facing conference stages host panel discussions on topics ranging from ocean acidification to the development of carbon offset projects.
An exhibit hall, dubbed the “Green Zone,” features discussions led by national delegations, nonprofits and corporations.
While some summits have seen large organized protests, such as the demonstration of thousands of people outside COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, the last two conferences in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates allowed protests only in designated, isolated areas.
Azerbaijan, which has also banned public protests, is likely to see little civic action outside the high-security conference venue.
