COP29: From finance to agenda fights, what happened on day one of the UN climate conference?

We're wrapping up our COP29 coverage for today, thanks for following along. Before we go we'll leave you with a quick recap of day one in Baku.

• As the summit opened, the World Meteorological Organization warned that this year is on track to be the warmest on record. Temperatures between January and September were around 1.54C higher than in pre-industrial times.
• COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev called these climate talks a "moment of truth" for the Paris Agreement in his opening address.
• UN climate chief Simon Stiell urged nations to agree on a new global goal for climate finance in Baku.
• US climate envoy John Podesta said that despite a "bitterly disappointing" election result, the US will carry on the work to contain the climate crisis with "passion and belief".
• Today's official proceedings have been dominated by a fight over what should be on the agenda at this UN summit. Fossil fuel-dependent countries say this meeting should just be about funding but others are pushing for the move away from fossil fuels to be on the table in Baku.

We'll be back tomorrow to bring you more as world leaders address the conference and negotiations continue. See you then!

More than a few big names won't be at COP29 in Baku.

US President Joe Biden isn't attending, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has decided to give this year a miss and the conference is smaller overall than previous iterations.

But, in the words of UN climate chief Simon Stiell earlier this year, "size does not necessarily translate to the quality of outcomes". There are still some major decisions that need to be made before the end of the UN climate conference with or without these prominent people.

We took a look at why some world leaders have decided to skip the summit this year.

Why have so many world leaders dropped out of COP29 climate talks?

This year’s international climate conference will be much smaller than talks last year in Dubai.…

Money is set to dominate COP29 in Baku. But with countries in disagreement about virtually all aspects of climate finance - the acceptable total amount, forms of funding, donors and recipients - the stage is set for a gruelling fortnight of negotiations in Baku. 

Here we take a look at the key fault lines in any potential agreement.

Grant, loan or investment: Are strings attached to climate finance?

Countries need to agree on a new collective quantified goal for climate finance in Baku. Here are the key fault lines.…

If you head over to cop29.com looking for official information about the UN climate conference you won't find what you are looking for. This address has instead been acquired by Global Witness.

The top line of the page reads: "Fossil fuel companies are destroying the planet for profit. They broke it, they should pay for it." Below are images of five big oil company bosses: Mike Wirth from Chevron, Patrick Pouyanné from TotalEnergies, Murray Auchinloss from BP, Darren Woods from ExxonMobil and Wael Sawan from Shell.

It is a part of the group's 'Payback Time' campaign which is being backed by several celebs, climate experts and activists from Ireland’s former president Mary Robinson to musician Brian Eno. As countries take part in crucial talks on providing climate funding for poorer nations, they are demanding that fossil fuel firms be made to pay up too.

"We’ve taken over COP29.com to demand that Big Oil finally pays for the climate crisis it helped create," says Alice Harrison head of fossil fuel campaigning at Global Witness.

"From super-charged hurricanes and record-breaking heat, to devastating floods, we’re seeing the catastrophic effects of fossil fuel emissions all around us. It’s time to end this injustice and make fossil fuel companies pay for the damage they’ve done."

So how did the group get a hold of the domain?

Global Witness says it bought the site from an Indian couple who were using it for their family business. Despite reportedly being offered significant sums of money for the domain by Azerbaijan's COP29 team, the couple were worried about climate breakdown so decided to let Global Witness have it instead.

cop29.com

At COP29.com, join the call for climate justice. We demand that fossil fuel companies fund the loss and damage Fund to aid people hit hardest by climate……

With some European leaders boycotting the COP 29 summit, opening in Baku today days after the re-election of Donald Trump as US president, who has compared climate change to a hoax, Radio Schuman talked with Euronews science reporter Jeremy Wilks about the prospects for the conference.

Trump and EU leader boycotts: What to expect from COP 29?

The climate summit begins today, in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, but many leaders will not attend the meeting.…

US climate envoy John Podesta has said that Trump's election win was 'bitterly disappointing' for those dedicated to climate action. Especially, he added, as the "dangers we face grow ever more catastrophic".

"In January, we are going to inaugurate a president whose relationship to climate change is captured by the words 'hoax' and 'fossil fuels'."

He told journalists at a press conference that it was clear the new administration would attempt to u-turn on many of the climate policies put in place by President Biden. Trump has said he will withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement once again, dismantle dozens of environmental regulations and allow the country's oil and gas industry to grow.

"It is what he has said and we should believe him," Podesta added.

But, he reassured the room, the "work to contain climate change is going to continue in the United States with commitment, passion and belief."

Podesta hopes to try and continue building on previous agreements like last year's pledge to triple renewable energy by 2030, noting that Biden and Harris are still in power until January. He also revealed that the US will be co-hosting a summit with China and Azerbaijan on methane tomorrow.

John Podesta, US climate envoy, speaks during a news conference at COP29. Credit: AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel

• Yes : 15
• No : 127
• I don't know : 16

As COP29 opened, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that this year is on track to be the warmest on record.

It issued a 'red alert' over the pace of climate change saying that data from six international data sets shows global average temperatures from January to September were 1.54C above pre-industrial levels.

For 16 consecutive months (June 2023 to September 2024), global mean temperatures likely exceeded anything recorded before - and often by a wide margin - according to WMO’s consolidated analysis of these datasets. Ocean heat also reached new records in 2023, sea-level rise is accelerating, and Antarctic sea-ice extent is at its second-lowest level on record.

Read more: 2024 set to be first year above 1.5C global warming limit, scientists warn

The UN says the 1.5C target set by the Paris Agreement has not yet been breached as it is based on a longer-term average over decades.

But WMO secretary general Celeste Saulo warned that "every additional increment of global warming increases climate extremes, impacts and risks".

This year’s UN climate change conference will for the first time rally the technology industry to take on the climate emergency, writes Euronews Next's Pascale Davies.

The summit will hold its first-ever Digitalisation Day and other roundtables with the climate impact of artificial intelligence (AI) high on the agenda.

In April, the World Economic Forum estimated that the computer power dedicated to AI is doubling every 100 days. Leading cloud providers, who have significant involvement with AI, have reported a 62 per cent rise in greenhouse gas emissions since 2020 and a 78 per cent increase in electricity usage since 2023, according to the UN’s Greening Digital Companies 2024 report.

"The question is how we bring back the kind of longer-term thinking into this while people are racing to build the best AI,” Tomas Lamanauskas, the deputy secretary-general of the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) told Euronews Next.

But experts also believe that AI can supercharge climate mitigation and find alternative energy solutions.

“So it's not that we can just shut off AI and say we'll try to live without it,” Lamanauskas said.

“I think now it is about trying to make sure that it’s as sustainable as possible while also gearing up for AI’s beneficial uses as well”.

Read more at the link below.

COP29: Technology and AI will be high on the agenda

“The question is how we bring back the kind of longer-term thinking into this while people are racing to build the best AI,” the UN’s ITU deputy-secretary……

There is little doubt in Baku that climate finance is one of, if not the most, important talking points of this summit.

Racquel Moses, the only UNFCCC Global Ambassador for Net Zero from an island, and CEO of the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, notes that we are anticipating significant outcomes on funding - particularly loss and damage.

"While the Loss and Damage Fund has been operationalised, it remains inadequately funded. The recent impacts of Hurricane Beryl underscore the urgent need for enhanced support to address loss and damage throughout the Caribbean," she says.

"It is essential for leaders to outline concrete plans for collaboration and accountability in implementing climate agreements, emphasizing equity and inclusion."

Teresa Anderson Global Climate Justice Lead at the NGO Action Aid says without finance, talk about climate action will remain just that - talk.

"They say there is no such thing as a free lunch - well there’s no such thing as a free climate target either. If we’re serious about climate action, we have to pay for climate action."

"Sticking the Global South with an escalating climate bill is not only unfair, it’s a recipe for certain planetary breakdown. This is why climate-hit countries desperately need COP29 to agree a new climate finance goal that delivers real worth trillions of dollars in grants each year."

And, Anderson adds, wealthy countries in the Global North that have been "polluting for a century or more" need to "finally pay up the real money for climate action". She points out that in 2022, developed countries only provided between $28 and 35 billion in grants for climate action in the Global South. The world spent twice as much - $71 billion - on ice cream that year.

"We can’t avert planetary meltdown by spending less on climate finance than we spend on ice cream."

Dara Shirley Snead wears a keffiyeh and a lanyard that reads "Global North, pay up $5 Trillion!" at COP29. Credit: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool 

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has called for a protest this evening in Tbilisi against COP29. Thunberg has previously said that she won't be attending the climate summit in Baku due to the repressive political climate.

"Join us as we rally against the wave of authoritarianism and exploitation sweeping through the Caucasus. Azerbaijan, using COP29 as a façade, is ramping up control under a false “green” agenda, tightening its grip on power, and escalating regional tensions," she wrote in a post on Instagram.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell has just addressed COP29. He showed a photo of himself with his 85-year-old neighbour on the island of Carraicou, Grenada - a lady named Florence.

It shows her standing in what is left of her home after Hurricane Beryl devastated the Caribbean earlier this year. Millions of people worldwide, he said, are facing similar struggles as the climate crisis exacerbates issues like rising electricity bills and food costs as well as increasing global instability.

"At 85, Florence has become one of the millions of victims of runaway climate change this year alone,” he said. “There are people like Florence in every country on Earth. Knocked down, and getting back up again.”

Simon Stiell, United Nations climate chief, speaks during the opening plenary session. Credit: AP Photo/Peter Dejong

Though the talks in Baku may feel "far away" from disasters like this, Stiell said the climate crisis is impacting every single individual in the world in one way or another. He urged cooperation at COP29, saying that the world must agree on an ambitious new finance goal, finalise the rules for carbon markets and make commitments to cut emissions.

“Now is the time to show that global cooperation is not down for the count. It’s rising to this moment. So let’s rise here together.”

As the open ceremony kicked off, the president of the summit Mukhtar Babayev called this the "moment of truth for the Paris Agreement".

Babayev - now Azerbaijan's minister for ecology and natural resources - is a former oil executive and spent 26 years at state-owned fossil fuel company Socar. He told delegates gathered in Baku that we are "on the road to ruin" and climate impacts are "not future problems".

"Azerbaijan can build the bridge, but you all need to walk across it. In fact, we need to start running," he said.

COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber, left, hands over the gavel to Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President, during the opening plenary session. Credit:AP Photo/Peter Dejong

"Whether you see them or not, people are suffering in the shadows. They are dying in the dark and they need more than compassion, more than prayers and paperwork." 

Babayev once again reinforced the need for finance for developing nations to move away from fossil fuels and adapt to the impacts of climate change as a key theme for these talks.

He also talked about the need for "raising ambition" or driving nations to pledge more to reduce their emissions. By early next year, countries will need to submit their updated national climate plans or NDCs.

Adapting to the worsening effects of climate change will cost poorer nations vast sums of money that they simply don't have.

A UN report published on Thursday last week found that developing nations need around $1 billion (€936 million) a day in order to cope with extreme weather impacts. This cost for vulnerable countries is with just 1.3C of global warming. The UNEP's recent Emissions Gap Report found conditions are likely to get much worse with the world on track for a temperature rise of between 2.6C and 3.1C.

Developing nations are currently receiving around $75 million (€70 million) a day which is less than a tenth of what they need. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres put it in stark contrast. He said that while the "purveyors of all this destruction - particularly the fossil fuel industry - reap massive profits and subsidies" funding for adaptation is falling well short of what is required.

The UN is calling for a new collective goal on climate finance to be agreed at COP29 and stronger adaptation elements in national climate plans in an attempt to bridge this huge gap.

Rich nations barely met a $100 billion (€94 billion) a year target set as part of an agreement in 2009. Now experts and developing countries are pushing for $1 trillion (€936 billion) a year or more. Delivering a meaningful agreement on finance is likely to be a major focus of negotiations this year.

Attendees meet during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit. Credit: AP Photo/Peter Dejong

Good morning, COP29 kicks off today in Baku with more than 30,000 people registered to attend the climate conference.

If you're a bit lost or rusty on how this works, check out our explainer on what exactly COP29 is and what to look out for this year.

With many world leaders shunning this year's summit, there won't be as many big names as usual travelling to Azerbaijan during these first few days. Delegates are still optimistic, however, that good progress can be made towards some important goals.

With that in mind, stay tuned for the latest updates from our reporters on the ground in Baku. I'll be here making sure you don't miss any of it.