COP-29

Tags: Environment

COP-29 

WHY IN NEWS:

• In a landmark decision on the first day of the global climate talks here, COP-29 has officially adopted the new operational standards for a mechanism of the Paris Agreement under Article 6, setting the stage for global carbon,held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Significance:

• It offers two pathways for countries and companies to trade carbon offsets, supporting the achievement of emission reduction targets set in their climate action plans, or nationally determined contributions
• The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29),2024  kicked off on Monday (November 11) in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
• The primary goal of COP29 is to bring together countries to develop a shared plan for curbing further global warming. 
• It will also focus on scaling up climate finance to help developing nations tackle the adverse effects of climate change.

What is COP?

• Conference of Parties, or COP, is the supreme governing body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) , an international treaty, signed in 1992, that has provided a basis for climate negotiations. 
• The UNFCCC commits parties (countries which have joined the treaty) to act together to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system”. 
• Currently, there are 198 parties (197 countries plus European Union) to the UNFCCC, constituting near universal membership.
• Every year since 1995,except in 2020 due to the  COVID-19 pandemic  the parties come together to discuss and agree on international climate policy. 

Criticisms of COP:

• Over the years, the biggest criticism has been the COP’s failure to provide climate finance to developing nations. 
• For instance, in 2009, the wealthiest countries ,which are disproportionately responsible for the climate crisis ,promised to raise every year from 2020 for developing nations to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. They failed to deliver on their promise.

Expectation from  COP29:

• The parties are negotiating the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), a new amount that must be mobilized by developed countries every year from 2025 onward to finance climate action in developing countries. 
• It has to be more than the $100 billion that developed countries, collectively, had promised to raise every year from 2020.