COP29 outcomes: balancing progress and challenges on the road to climate action

(UN Environment Program, Baku, 4 December 2024) COP29 held in Baku, Azerbaijan, offered an important opportunity for governments and other global stakeholders to put in place the mechanisms, tools and signals required for countries to continue implementing their contributions to the Paris Agreement as urgently needed. The main areas of negotiation were on:  

• the design & key elements of future climate financial architecture & the next collective quantified goal (NCQG) on climate finance;  
• the rulebook for future international, compliance carbon markets; and   
• countries’ collective signaling on mitigation ambition, as follow up to the various energy transition objectives captured in last year’s COP28 ’UAE Consensus’.

As widely reported elsewhere, while opportunities were missed to create the required clarity and determination on finance and ambition, there was some good news, even a breakthrough, on the establishment of government-backed, international carbon markets of the future.  This summary highlights the recent, impressive achievements of the UNEP FI-convened net-zero groups, progress on financing climate adaptation, and the implications for financial institutions of some of the summit’s outcomes.