COP29: What happened on day five of the UN climate conference?

The sun has long set in Baku, so we’re wrapping up our coverage on day five of COP29. Thanks for joining us, and here's a quick recap of today’s biggest stories:

• An open letter from a group of esteemed climate experts calling for a “fundamental overhaul” of COP has been making a splash in Baku and beyond. Future summits should not be held in petrostates, they suggest, and should have stricter rules on fossil fuel lobbying. 

• The lobbying reform call is a timely one: more than 1,700 coal, oil and gas lobbyists have been revealed to be at COP29, according to new analysis. That’s more than all the delegates from the 10 most climate vulnerable nations combined.

• Peace was one of today’s themes. Lead negotiator for Azerbaijan Yalchin Rafiyev has penned an opinion piece for Euronews explaining why the host is urging all countries to cease military operations this month, under a ‘COP Truce’.

• Behind the scenes, negotiations are proceeding at a slow pace. CarbonBrief’s negotiations tracker (an invaluable tool for those following the legal texts at the heart of COP) shows draft texts lacking for half the 100 items on the agenda.

• As we write, a new finance text has just dropped, which has whittled the number of pages down from 33 to 25. With COP29 nearing the halfway point, there’s still a long way to go to secure the all-important climate finance deal.

We'll be back tomorrow with the latest from COP29 - where Saturday’s themes are science, technology and digitalisation, and climate marches are planned around the world.

Private jets aren’t the best look for attendees of a conference designed to curb climate change, but once again they’ve proved a popular mode of travel to COP29.

According to data from plane tracking website FlightRadar24, 65 private jets landed in Baku in the week to Monday. Of those, 45 arrived on Sunday and Monday as the summit began.

That’s twice as many jets compared with the same week last year, when 32 private jets touched down at Baku international airport.

‘Blatant hypocrisy’: Private jets to Baku soared before start of COP29

New flight tracking data adds to a dubious atmosphere around the climate summit, held in the oil-rich state of Azerbaijan.…

I know some are frustrated with the COP and UNFCCC processes, given the urgent need to accelerate action.

While reforms are needed, let’s not forget: multilateralism is the foundation of climate progress.

The Paris Agreement happened because every country had a voice. (1/5)

— Laurence Tubiana (@LaurenceTubiana) November 15, 2024

It has become clear that constructive, supportive ideas developed some time ago on the international climate negotiations have been misinterpreted in today's context — so I want to make unequivocal our conviction:

The COP process is an essential and irreplaceable vehicle for…

— Christiana Figueres (@CFigueres) November 15, 2024

More reaction to today’s open letter calling for an overhaul to the COP structure.

Moreblessings Chidaushe, WaterAid’s regional advocacy manager based in South Africa, agrees that a “radical reset” is needed. She tells Euronews Green:

“What should be serving as an inspiring example of global cooperation, is now becoming increasingly inaccessible and exclusive.

“Local communities, Indigenous peoples and smaller economies are excluded from COP29 discussions, priced out of participation and denied any influence over the outcomes of the conference - even though it is these frontline communities, like those from my region across Southern Africa dealing with daily with deadly droughts and floods, who know first-hand what is truly needed to fight this fight.

“All parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change must re-centre the COP process on the leadership of those directly impacted by climate change, ensuring their needs are at the heart of all decision-making. This includes reducing the practical and financial barriers to attendance and making processes more accessible for local, small-nation leadership and Indigenous peoples.

“COPs need a radical reset: failure is inevitable unless it opens its doors to frontline voices.”

Moreblessings at COP29. Credit: WaterAid

With long days traversing Baku Stadium, and negotiations continuing into the night, delegates are in need of good food to keep them going. But many have been left disappointed by the options on offer. 

Reporters for the UK’s Guardian paper say it is the most expensive COP catering they can recall; describing “price-gouging exploitation of delegates trapped in the giant conference site all day.”

An Americano with soy milk comes in at $10 (€9.45), a small grapefruit juice is $11 (€10.39). A “groot” vegan burger, fries and coke takes a $23 (€21.73) bite out of the wallet.

However even tracking down a vegan burger is a challenge in itself. The food court reportedly features just one vegan and vegetarian outlet, prompting complaints to the UN (even though logistics were organised by hosts Azerbaijan).

It might sound trivial compared to the life-and-death matters under discussion at COP29, but issues like this feed into climate injustice.

“It’s not fair at all,” one Mexican attendee told the Guardian. “And this is precisely why delegations from smaller countries have only one or two people - they cannot afford it.”

Finance is dominating this year’s climate conference, but another milestone fast approaching is the need for countries to submit new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by February.

These decarbonisation plans will govern national climate action until 2035, so it's crucial that they’re suitably ambitious.

Before COP29 kicked off, the ‘troika’ of COP presidencies - UAE, Azerbaijan and COP30 host Brazil - indicated that their targets will either be announced at the summit or by the end of 2024.

The UAE and Brazil have followed through on this, but Azerbaijan’s NDC is still missing in action - despite expectations for it at the opening ceremony on Monday.

Instead, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev used his speech to describe his country’s plentiful oil resources as a “gift from the gods.” Expectations that the Azeri NDC will address fossil fuel phase-out are therefore low. 

Marina Silva, Brazil environment minister, speaks to members of the media at COP29 on Tuesday., Credit: AP Photo/Peter Dejong

However the UAE and Brazil’s submissions also fail to tackle fossil fuels in their targets.

“The UAE and Brazil made good on their promises as first-movers to submit updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, but clearly failed to deliver on mitigation ambition,” says Steffen Menzel, a climate diplomacy and geopolitics expert at climate think tank E3G.

“The absence of any signal from Azerbaijan to submit their NDC is equally concerning. For their own economic, security, and environmental interests, countries must prioritise renewables over oil and gas.”

Small island states like the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu are on the frontlines of climate change, and in urgent need of funds for adaptation and loss and damage.

As negotiations on the all-important climate finance text continue, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries Group held a press conference this morning to outline their expectations for the new goal. 

Asked if they would support an expansion of donors to the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) - meaning developing countries could be obliged to chip in too - AOSIS senior advisor Michai Robertson gave a resounding no.

1/4. Asked if the Alliance of Small Island States (@AOSISChair) and the Least Developed Countries Group (@LDCChairUNFCCC) support an expansion of the contributor base for #ClimateFinance @MichaiRobertson says unequivocally NO🚫, that it is developed countries who are obligated. pic.twitter.com/NFYf7CXTiL

— Loss and Damage Collaboration (L&DC) (@LossandDamage) November 15, 2024

Yalchin Rafiyev, lead negotiator for Azerbaijan, explains why the COP29 host is calling for a ‘COP Truce’ - calling on countries to halt military operations during November.

COP Truce: A call for global unity to address climate and conflict

The world is invited to stand together in Baku and respect the COP Truce as a symbol of shared responsibility, resilience, and hope, Yalchin Rafiyev writes.…

At least 1,773 coal, oil and gas lobbyists have been allowed to come to the climate summit, a new report reveals.

Analysis from the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition finds that this year’s lobbyists outnumber the delegations of almost every country at the conference - bar Azerbaijan, next year’s host Brazil, and Türkiye.

KBPO member Nnimmo Bassey comments:

"The fossil fuel lobby’s grip on climate negotiations is like a venomous snake coiling around the very future of our planet. We must expose their deceit and take decisive action to remove their influence and make them pay for their infractions towards our planet. It’s time to prioritise the voices of those who have been fighting for justice and sustainability, not the interests of polluters."

Fossil fuel lobbyists have received more passes to COP29 than all the delegates from the 10 most climate vulnerable nations combined (1033), the group calculates.

Yesterday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres took the time to meet with young climate activists at the conference, resulting in this rather uplifting photo.

“I’m very grateful for your extremely strong commitment, and I promise you that I am entirely on your side,” he told them.

“You have every right to be angry. I am angry too. I am angry because we are on the verge of the climate abyss, and I don’t see enough urgency or political will to address the emergency.”

The UN Secretary-General met with youth representatives yesterday. Credit: UN Office for Partnerships.

A group of influential climate policy experts - including former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon - have released an open letter calling for reforms to COP.

Despite the strength of the global policy framework, they write, the summit’s structure “simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity.”’

A fundamental overhaul of the COP is needed, they argue, including stopping the conference from being held in countries that do not support the transition away from fossil fuels.

The letter comes from the Club of Rome - “a platform of diverse thought leaders” - and is addressed to UN climate chief Simon Stiell and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Former Irish President Mary Robinson, and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Action Research Dr Johan Rockström, are among the 22 veteran climate experts who have signed it.

Good morning and welcome to day five of our live COP29 coverage. 

Negotiators continue to chase an elusive climate finance deal, against a tumultuous political backdrop. Today’s themes also expand the summit’s focus to energy, peace, relief and recovery.

We'll be here keeping you up to date on what's going on at the UN climate conference so stay tuned.

If you missed any of the action yesterday take a look at our coverage from day three to catch up.

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