Erick Burgueño Salas
Research expert covering climate change and the water industry
COP 29 - statistics & facts
Fossil fuel consumption worldwide hit a new record in 2023; more than 140 petawatts-hour of fossil fuel primary energy were consumed across the globe that year, a more than threefold increase compared to 1965. Amidst the upward trend in the use of fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change, world leaders will gather for the 29th time at the Conference of Parties (COP 29) of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in November. The COP 29 will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, and is already gathering controversy once again due to the oil and gas dependency of the host nation.
The third initiative is related to clean hydrogen, pushing the private and public sectors to release the potential of a global low-emissions hydrogen market. This declaration will aim to set international frameworks and regulations to create a viable business model for hydrogen. It is expected that the global clean hydrogen market value will increase to more than 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2050.
The attendees to the climate summit will have about a fortnight to navigate the aforementioned topics and additional points on the program. The goal will be, as every year, to reach consensus and create binding pledges and declarations to better prepare the world against climate change. Although this year's agenda touches on crucial initiatives, it still falls short on limiting fossil fuel production on a warming planet that just recorded its warmest boreal summer on record.
The finance conference
The main topic on the COP 29 agenda is the establishment of the Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF), which incentivizes investment in climate action in developing countries. The CFAF aims to boost public-private partnership funds and will contain mechanisms to speed up concessions to rapidly address climate disasters. Azerbaijan, the host country, is aiming for one billion U.S. dollars in initial fundraising with the support from nations that produce fossil fuels and companies involved in oil, gas, and coal production. The fund is expected to become operational at the end of the first funding round. It will not only help with climate adaptation measures, but it is also designed to catalyze funding for mitigation, research and development. It is forecast that almost nine trillion U.S. dollars will be required annually to address climate change effects by 2030. As of 2022, global climate finance averaged at just 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars per year.A phaseout of fossil fuels? Not a priority
The agenda for COP 29 does not explicitly include discussions for a foreseeable phaseout of fossil fuels, even though the COP 28 deal mentioned the need for a transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems in order to achieve net-zero by 2050. Azerbaijan’s economy depends greatly on crude oil and natural gas exports. A potential conflict of interests has reignited the debate about the role of fossil fuel companies in the UN summit, as Azerbaijan becomes the third petrostate in a row to be granted the presidency of the climate talks, after the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.The energy transition pledges
Among the energy-related topics, three initiatives are set to be at the center of the discussion. The first one is the Green Energy Pledge, focused on creating green energy corridors, zones, and grids to boost global efforts to triple renewable energy capacity and double efficiency by 2030. As of 2023, cumulative renewable energy capacity installed worldwide stood at almost 3.9 terawatts, more than tripling from 2010 levels. Secondly, the Azeri Presidency will also call on countries to adopt an energy storage pledge, making storage the foundation of global energy systems, thus increasing resilience and efficiency. A global target has been set to reach 1.5 terawatts of green energy storage capacity by 2030.The third initiative is related to clean hydrogen, pushing the private and public sectors to release the potential of a global low-emissions hydrogen market. This declaration will aim to set international frameworks and regulations to create a viable business model for hydrogen. It is expected that the global clean hydrogen market value will increase to more than 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2050.
The attendees to the climate summit will have about a fortnight to navigate the aforementioned topics and additional points on the program. The goal will be, as every year, to reach consensus and create binding pledges and declarations to better prepare the world against climate change. Although this year's agenda touches on crucial initiatives, it still falls short on limiting fossil fuel production on a warming planet that just recorded its warmest boreal summer on record.
