It was at about 3pm last Saturday when COP29’s media centre was abuzz with news that several country envoys had staged a walkout and left one of the meeting rooms at the far end of the Baku Olympic Stadium, the venue for the world’s biggest climate conference.
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A group of journalists and I who were tracking the proceedings of the finance talks – this year, COP needed to come to a consensus on a climate finance goal to fund urgent action – hurried to the location. Members of civil society organsations were in a media huddle trying to explain what they had witnessed at a meeting between the COP29 presidency and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) negotiating bloc. The vulnerable and poorer nations were unhappy with how negotiations were unfolding.
“They don’t feel heard. They feel they are being excluded from the talks and that’s why they have decided to suspend the meeting,” Mohamed Adow, campaigner from Power Shift Africa, who was an observer in the meeting, told everyone.
The day before, a draft proposal released by the COP presidency called for rich nations to “take the lead” in providing US$250 billion annually by 2035 through public and private finance. It was a figure that even COP29 host Azerbaijan described as “not fair or ambitious”.
“Reject the US$250 billion proposal”. Activists raise their arms in a protest gesture as they did a silent walk on the last official day of COP29 on 22 November, Friday. A few hours earlier, a draft proposal released by the CO29 presidency called for rich nations to “take the lead” in providing US$250 billion annually by 2035 through public and private finance, a sum deemed too low and insufficient to aid vulnerable nations in tackling the urgent climate crisis. Image: Hannah Fernandez/ Eco-Business
By then, the summit had run more than 24 hours overtime and country delegations were packing up to go home, which could potentially cause negotiations to break down given that the conference could not meet the quorum it needed to approve decisions.
Hundreds of civil society representatives gather to wait for the availability of a meeting room to discuss next steps after the US$250 billion proposal was announced on 22 November, Friday. In the middle of the crowd, climate activist Harjeet Singh (in green) is speaking to reporters at the conference. Image: Hannah Fernandez / Eco-Business
Late Saturday afternoon, a final push saw a smaller group of envoys come back to the negotiating table for a last-ditch effort to strike a deal, nearly on the brink of collapse. AOSIS was present in the behind-the-scenes talks, along with United States and United Kingdom representatives.
“We are not beggars!”, Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development, speaking to the media, called for a rejection of the COP29 draft text. Image: Hannah Fernandez / Eco-Business
Activists held multiple protests on the evening of 22 November, Friday. Image: COP29 Azerbaijan / Flickr
“As I go around meetings, I have observed that developing states want a deal,” Harjeet Singh, global engagement director of Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, told Eco-Business on Saturday when talks were feared to break down. “There will not be any collapse of the talks because it is essential to have climate funding for any of the countries to make their nationally determined contributions due next year.” Image: COP29 Azerbaijan / Flickr
Almost three hours later, negotiators emerged with a framework for a deal, which was announced with relief at the closing plenary session just before dawn on Sunday.
Latin American media gather around a COP29 presidency spokesperson who gave a statement about the preliminary US$250 billion proposal made on 22 November, Friday. Image: Hannah Fernandez / Eco-Business
Developing states had cinched a few key concessions from their rich counterparts, including a pledge of at least US$300 billion in yearly support for fighting climate hazards. This marks a tripling of an expiring annual pledge to deliver US$100 billion, and an additional US$50 billion more per year than had been on the table the previous day.
Journalists in the media centre wait for the schedule of the closing plenary originally set to be held on the evening of 22 November, Friday. The changing schedules on the monitors indicated that the session could be postponed to the following day. Image: Hannah Fernandez / Eco-Business
But developing nations, including India, Nigeria, Bolivia, Indonesia and Malawi criticised the new amount’s “paltry size” and the weight given to funding from multilateral development banks. They said it was “less than a quarter of what science shows is needed and barely enough to forestall a climate catastrophe”.
Some delegates line up before the food stalls inside the Baku Olympic Stadium, where the climate conference was held. By Friday evening, food had run out. Some delegates and media representatives had go to a metro station a few kilometeres away from the stadium to pick up their food delivery that was not allowed in the tightly-guarded COP premises. Image: Hannah Fernandez / Eco-Business
In the end, climate-vulnerable nations compromised by settling for a process that will explore options on how a broader finance goal of US$1.3 trillion might be achieved at COP30 in Brazil next year.
Corporate booths in the Green Zone of the conference venue were dismantled starting from the morning of 23 November, Saturday. Image: Hannah Fernandez / Eco-Business
COP29 taxis await delegates as buses ceased running on 23 November, Saturday, when the conference ran into overtime. Image: Hannah Fernandez / Eco-Business
Members of the media, civil society representatives and delegates saving their spots in a line formed outside the Nizami plenary hall in Baku Stadium late on 23 November, Saturday. Many brought their luggage as they planned to go straight to the airport to catch their flight home after listening to the closing plenary which ran into overtime. Image: Hannah Fernandez / Eco-Business
For now, United Nations secretary António Guterres said reaching an agreement was essential to keep the 1.5°C global warming limit alive.
“I had hoped for a more ambitious outcome – on both finance & mitigation – to meet the scale of the great challenge we face, but the agreement reached provides a base on which to build. It must be honoured in full and and on time. I appeal to governments to do so, with urgency,” he said.
