Climate Change
Climate Diplomacy

COP29 Announcement Tracker: Key Announcements from the 2024 UN Climate Summit

By Daniel Bresette and Anna McGinn and Alison Davis and Molly Brind’Amour and Nicole Pouy and Amaury Laporte

November 7, 2024

Throughout the UN climate summit (COP29)—which officially runs from November 11 to November, 2024—a number of agreements, declarations, and collaborations will be announced on a range of climate, environmental, and energy topics. EESI is tracking the happenings of COP29 through our daily newsletter, COP29 Dispatch: What Congress Needs to Know from Baku. This article provides a compilation of the announcements included in COP29 Dispatch.

Announcements made by world leaders related to nationally determined contributions (NDCs)—the commitments nations make under the Paris Agreement to cut their greenhouse gas emissions—are not included in this tracker. This information can be found in the Climate Action Tracker or through ClimateWatch.

These announcements are organized by key themes and signatories but many also touch on multiple different themes. For more on U.S. federal and elected officials who attended the UN climate summit, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, see our U.S. leaders tracker.

 

Adaptation and resilience

  • Adaptation update: The Least Developed Country Expert Group (LEG) provided  findings and updates on support for and progress towards national adaptation plan (NAP) implementation around the world. As of September 23, 2024, 58 developing countries have submitted NAPs, but several barriers to implementation remain, and the LEG found “little evidence” to show that existing adaptation projects have actually reduced human and ecological vulnerability to climate impacts.
  • Down to business: COP29 UNFCCC High-level Champion Nigar Arpadarai announced an initiative to “climate-proof” small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and bolster them to help shape the green transition. So far, 35 collaborators with networks of 65 million SMEs have joined the campaign.
  • Climate action tool launches: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme launched the Climate Action Review Tool, a new interface designed to provide “step-by-step guidance” for turning adaptation planning into action and implementation. An accompanying handbook provides further assistance in making the most of the tool.

 

Clean Energy

  • New renewable partnership in Central Asia: The International Renewable Energy Agency announced a Central Asian partnership to accelerate renewable energy investments. The Accelerated Partnership for Renewable Energy in Central Asia will also work to ensure robust renewable energy trade connectivity in the region.
  • Ukrainian nuclear energy: At a U.S. Center event on supporting Ukraine’s nuclear energy industry after the war, German Galushchenko, Ukraine’s minister of energy, and Bonnie Jenkins, under secretary of state for arms control and international security, announced a $30 million investment in three small modular reactor (SMR) partnership projects. These projects include a clean hydrogen and ammonia pilot plant, a coal-to-SMR transition project, and a clean steel roadmap project. Jenkins also highlighted the importance of passive safety systems that do not require intervention or backup power as a key component of Ukrainian energy security. [Includes U.S. engagement]

 

Climate Finance

  • Loss and damage fund signed: Stakeholders signed key agreements for the Loss and Damage Fund, a UN fund for responding to climate change harms in developing countries. At the signing ceremony, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev declared that funding will flow in 2025. “This is an important win for vulnerable communities,” he said. “It is the result of years of work.”
  • NCQG updates: The first iteration of the draft new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG) was released today. Its 34 pages offer six options for the NCQG’s dollar amount, with numbers ranging from $100 billion to $2 trillion per year and proposed timelines to meet the goal ranging from 2029 to 2035. Leading up to and throughout the opening of COP29, leaders from developing countries have repeated the call for $1.3 trillion in climate finance. The draft also offers consideration of new sources of climate finance, such as through carbon pricing.
  • U.S. support for climate ambition abroad: A U.S. Center panel showcased past and upcoming foreign climate investments from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent federal agency. At the event, Deputy Vice President Jonathan Richart announced $480 million in grants for affordable electricity and climate-resilient transmission grid expansion in Sierra Leone; $125 million in grants for clean energy technologies and energy efficiency in Belize; and $300 million in grants for renewable energy, catalyzing private investment, and electric grid integration and updates in Côte d’Ivoire. Richart also announced a new $144 million partnership agreement with Mozambique to strengthen coastal livelihoods and climate resilience. [Includes U.S. engagement]
  • Millions for adaptation finance: The Global Environment Facility announced the winners of $20 million in funding for projects that support adaptation financing. The Challenge Program for Adaptation Innovation uses donor funding to help make it easier to pilot new adaptation finance programs, like a virtual green bank for adaptation and “pull funding” for Caribbean finance.
  • It takes two: In a U.S. Center discussion, Assistant Secretary for International Trade and Development for the Department of Treasury Alexia Latortue highlighted the Global Emerging Markets (GEMs) Risk Database, which was released last month and provides prospective private sector investors with essential project data. She also noted the progress of the Just Energy Transition Partnerships, through which the United States supports energy transitions in Indonesia and Vietnam via public-private partnerships. [Includes U.S. engagement]
  • New Zealand | Minister of Climate Change Simon Watts announced an additional contribution of $10 million to the loss and damage fund.
  • Pledge update: At the G20 Summit in Brazil, the United States announced a $325 million contribution to the Clean Technology Fund, which supports clean energy supply chains in eligible emerging markets and developing economies. [Includes U.S. engagement]
  • Ministers from New Zealand and Singapore on Article 6: A draft text on the implementation of Article 6 on carbon markets was released in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Baku. The ministers reported a constructive atmosphere.

 

Climate Science

  • The looming 1.5: In a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) press conference, the group presented key findings from their State of the Climate 2024 report released today. The report stated that 2024 will be the hottest year on record, that 2015 to 2024 is slated to be the warmest decade on record, and that from January to September 2024, the global average near-surface temperature was 1.54°C (2.77°F) above pre-industrial levels—a level exceeding the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F).
  • Dire state of the cryosphere: The International Cryosphere Climate Initiative’s 2024 State of the Cryosphere report found that current climate commitments are insufficient to prevent ice loss, which will have “disastrous” impacts across the globe. The report also found, for the first time, that the melting ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica may be slowing polar ocean currents, which could worsen sea level rise on the U.S. East Coast. Finally, the report indicates that if current emissions continue, ice melt will lead to extreme loss and damage and expensive mitigation costs.

 

COP (UN Climate Summit)

  • Australia | Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen announced Australia’s bid to host COP31 in partnership with its Pacific neighbors.

 

Emission Reductions

  • Heads of state…ments: National leaders from almost 50 countries delivered formal statements to kick off the World Leaders Climate Action Summit. They shared progress on national climate goals, and many called for increased finance to vulnerable countries. Remarks included the following announcements:
    • Belgium | Prime Minister Alexander De Croo pledged to double his country’s climate finance. 
    • Brazil | Vice President Geraldo Alckmin previewed Brazil’s NDC, which is expected to pledge 67% emission reductions by 2035 compared to 2005 levels. 
    • China | Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang stated that developed countries must lead in achieving emission reductions and that developing countries “need to do our best within our abilities” to do the same. He also highlighted China’s contributions to the global green transition through electric vehicle manufacturing.
    • Spain | President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón lamented his country’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory, which recently killed 220 people and “would have been less likely and less intense without the effect of climate change.”
    • Turkey | President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared Turkey’s nomination to host COP31 in 2026, after delineating domestic achievements toward cap-and-trade legislation and in renewable energy production.
    • United Kingdom | Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the country’s NDC, aligned with 1.5°C (2.7°F) goals, to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81%. 
  • Keeping global methane promises: The United States, Azerbaijan, and China led a summit on reducing global methane and non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions, which are substantially more potent than carbon dioxide. Governments, multilateral development banks, and philanthropic groups took the opportunity to share progress towards methane goals and announce new pledges, including from the countries listed below. The State Department lists all updates and commitments from today’s methane summit here. [Includes U.S. engagement]
    • United States | Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta announced the finalization of an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that will reduce methane pollution from the oil and gas sector.
    • Azerbaijan | COP 29 President Mukhtar Babayev discussed the new COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste, which calls on the waste sector to reduce methane emissions by 2030.
    • China | Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin discussed plans to cut cut national coalbed methane emissions from 30% of total coalbed emissions to 8%.
    • Republic of Korea | Special Presidential Envoy for COP29 Hong Sik Cho announced Korea’s ASEAN-Korea Cooperation on Methane Mitigation Project to bolster methane reduction and monitoring in Southeast Asian countries.
  • Nitrous oxide assessment: At a U.S. Center event on reducing nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, speakers released the UN Environment Programme’s Global Nitrous Oxide Assessment. The report, which was the first international report focused on N2O in a decade, found that it is the third most significant greenhouse gas, and the most significant ozone-depleting substance in current use. The report shares actions that can reduce anthropogenic N2O emissions by over 40% from 2020 levels by 2050. Effective abatement could avoid 20 million premature deaths by 2050. 
  • Global carbon budget revealed: At a press conference, scientists from the Global Carbon Project team released their 2024 Global Carbon Budget report. It found that fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions have still not peaked, with fossil fuel emissions and land-use change emissions both expected to increase in 2024. Project scientist Stephen Sitch called for “steep reductions in total emissions,” and highlighted the importance of protecting forests and scaling up technological carbon dioxide removal.
  • Building better:The Subnational Climate Action Leaders’ Exchange launched the Zero Emissions and Resilient Buildings (ZERB) Accelerator to encourage multilevel collaboration focused on reducing operational and embodied emissions from the buildings sector and bolstering climate resilience of the built environment. The ZERB Accelerator will work in conjunction with the Buildings Breakthrough (announced at COP28) and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (announced at COP21). Maryland, Washington State, and Bogotá, Colombia, are the first subnational jurisdictions to participate in this new initiative. [Includes U.S. engagement]
  • TRACE-ing emission sources: Climate TRACE released a new inventory of greenhouse gas data, unveiling emission insights for every country and every major source of emissions across the globe. At the data release event, former U.S. Vice President and Climate TRACE Co-founder Al Gore said, “You can only manage what you measure. We know the basic sectors, but we have not been able to identify exactly and precisely where [emissions are] coming from. That’s where Climate TRACE comes in.” The new data paints a clearer picture of emission trends at the local level, revealing a high degree of variance for many jurisdictions from their national averages. This is a major breakthrough for subnational entities seeking high-impact mitigation opportunities. Also notable about the Climate TRACE data is that it includes measures of non-GHG air pollution.
  • No “I” in methane: The UN Environment Programme launched its third An Eye on Methane report and its first-ever An Eye on Methane data platform at a press conference. The report found that countries are not on track to meet Global Methane Pledge targets and that, according to the IEA, methane emissions are increasing. It also featured data from the International Methane Emissions Observatory’s Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), which issued more than 1,200 notifications to governments and companies about major methane plumes over the last two years. The United States, alongside Turkmenistan, received the highest number of alerts. Despite the often simple fixes that are required for methane leaks—from tightening a loose bolt or replacing a filter—experts said that fewer than 1% of the notifications received a response. Roland Kupers, lead architect of Eye on Methane, discussed the new platform, which shows data on MARS plumes, information on Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 countries, and a “rich set” of scientific studies.
  • A strong data foundation to build on: A collaboration between the International Code Council and Standards Australia aims for better, more transparent, and more reliable data essential for measuring the progress made toward sustainability goals. The built environment is responsible for 40% of energy-related emissions, but implementing solutions that deliver verifiable benefits can be overwhelmed by information barriers like data fragmentation and incompatibility. According to a new white paper, a universal data protocol (UDP) for the built environment will be an extension of the UN Transparency Protocol that aims to reduce greenwashing and ensure accountability. The UPD will eventually facilitate improved regulatory reporting and compliance, especially in the 70 countries that committed to net-zero emissions in buildings by signing the Declaration de Chaillot in March 2024.
  • Roadmap for U.S. energy transition: A U.S. Center event highlighted a new report, The National Blueprint for a Clean and Competitive Industrial Sector, offering key decarbonization strategies such as accelerating energy efficiency as a cost-effective and available solution, increasing demonstration projects for emerging technological solutions, and advancing research and development for greenhouse gas reduction technologies. Private sector panelists demonstrated their own contributions to these strategies. Helen Walter-Terrinoni of Trane Technologies discussed the company’s investment in low-carbon steel, as well as its work to help farmers switch to cost-effective recycled heating methods for milk pasteurization processes. Speakers, including Department of Energy Deputy Secretary David Turk, listed the industrial sector’s lack of awareness of available decarbonization technologies and the need for regulatory certainty as major barriers to industrial decarbonization.
  • Switzerland’s NDC update: Switzerland officially released its “updated and enhanced” NDC for the years 2021 to 2030. The NDC, which is in line with the IPCC recommendation to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, will see Switzerland reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% from 1990 levels, meaning a 35% greenhouse gas emissions reduction from 2021 to 2030. In the document, Switzerland notes that it is reviewing domestic fossil fuel subsidies and engaging with Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidies Reform, which advocates for fossil fuel subsidy removal around the world.
  • Implementation plays out: Executive Secretary Stiell highlighted that nine countries have submitted their biennial transparency reports (BTRs). BTRs contain updates on greenhouse gas emission reductions, adaptation actions, and other implementation measures for public view. This is the first time countries are submitting BTRs under the Paris Agreement, and they are due for most countries by the end of 2024.
  • Low-carbon building materials, defined: German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) unveiled official international definitions for “low-carbon cement” and “low-carbon concrete.” According to GCCA, establishing these definitions will make it easier for organizations to procure low-carbon cement and concrete, which will aid in decarbonization. The concrete and cement sector contributes to 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, highlighting the importance of low-carbon efforts.
  • Track climate commitments with this digital tool: The World Resources Institute launched the new 2025 NDC Tracker on its Climate Watch site. This tool allows users to compare 2020-2021 and 2025 NDCs using 150 potential indicators, or to search them for specific topics using a keyword search. Additionally, the interactive platform tracks and evaluates new NDCs as they are submitted to the UNFCCC.

 

Environmental Protection

  • U.S. bill would bolster global climate action: Back in Washington, D.C., Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) introduced the Targeting Environmental and Climate Recklessness Act (H.R.10117), which would restrict access to the U.S. financial system for foreign actors connected to destructive climate actions. It would also increase human rights protections for environmental defenders around the world. Rep. Escobar said in a statement, “As the Biden Administration and Congress continue pushing progress at home, it is imperative that we also ensure we have strong foreign policy tools to hold accountable bad foreign actors who engage in reckless behaviors that exacerbate this existential threat.” [Includes U.S. engagement]

 

Forests

  • Seeing the forest through the trees:  According to the latest UN Environment Programme report, forests have the potential to keep warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) by contributing about 20% of needed greenhouse gas emission reductions. Yet efforts to conserve forests, which are worth up to $150 trillion, according to one estimate, are hamstrung by a lack of funding. International Union for Conservation of Nature President and UN Climate Change High-Level Champion Razan Al Mubarak and Republic of Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo opened a Forest & Climate Leaders’ Partnership panel on recent efforts to preserve and protect forests. Speakers emphasized the need for financing and private-sector engagement to reduce deforestation at a rate four times faster than current efforts. In advance of COP30, the future host country of Brazil announced the new billion-dollar Tropical Forest Finance Facility.

 

Fossil Fuels

  • Legislators call for LNG stop: Over 130 legislators called for a global halt to LNG expansion in the Global Legislators’ Call Against the Proliferation of LNG Infrastructure, underscoring COP28’s agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. The letter, initiated in part by Sen. Markey, was signed by legislators from 30 countries, including eight other members of Congress.
  • Moving beyond oil and gas: The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) Fund launched a nationally determined contribution (NDC) guidance “window” at a press conference hosted by Denmark. This guidance aims to aid Global South governments in transitioning away from fossil fuels in their NDCs. The press conference urged greater action on mitigation, with Lars Aagaard, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, stating that “the [negotiating] text today falls short on mitigation and that is clearly unacceptable.” Earlier at COP29, BOGA and the European Commission announced a partnership to support a just transition and fossil fuel phase out.

 

Green Jobs

  • Who’s working for you? A U.S. Center event highlighted initiatives toward, and new data on, climate job creation in the United States. LinkedIn’s latest Global Green Skills report, released this month, found that U.S. workers with “green” skills have an 80% higher hiring rate than the rest of the workforce, with the greatest job potential in renewable energy generation, building decarbonization, sustainable procurement, and ecosystem management. U.S. Department of Energy Office of Policy Acting Executive Director and Office of Energy Jobs Lead Carla Frisch discussed the agency’s latest U.S. Energy and Employment report, which found that clean energy job growth was double the level of overall U.S. job growth. Frisch also touted the 30% tax credits offered under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for clean energy projects that offer good wages, use apprenticeship pathways, and provide training. Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), also highlighted the IRA as a climate jobs booster, and delineated ways the agency used $60 million in IRA funding to help build a climate-ready workforce, from supporting the Indigenous fishing workforce in Alaska to training people in the Southeast on how to use flood mitigation tools.

 

Just Transition

  • Brazil launches just transition compact: Following the G20 agreement in October to adopt 10 voluntary “just and inclusive energy transition” principles, Brazil announced the Just and Inclusive Energy Transition Compact. This document codifies these agreed-upon principles and encourages countries and non-state actors to sign on and take action to operationalize these principles, which include social protection, respecting rights, and ending energy poverty.

 

Natural resource extraction

  • New critical mineral recommendations: At COP28, countries agreed to triple renewable energy output and double energy efficiency by 2030—a goal that would result in tripling critical mineral demand. However, as the UN Secretary-General's Panel on Critical Minerals found, mineral-rich developing countries have not reaped the benefits of the clean energy transition. At an informal event today, the panel discussed a new report identifying five actionable recommendations and seven voluntary principles for ensuring justice, trust, and equity across the critical mineral supply chain. Recommendations included the establishment of a high-level expert advisory group to bolster benefit-sharing; a global traceability, transparency, and accountability framework for responsible mineral supply chains; a global mining legacy fund to address historic inequities and harm; assistance to artisanal and small-scale miners; and a process to set global targets for critical mineral circularity.

 

Oceans

  • Ocean breakthroughs: The Ocean Breakthroughs pathways seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through ocean solutions by 35% by 2050. At COP28, four breakthroughs were announced on shipping, marine conservation, aquatic food, and ocean renewable energy. Today, United Nations Secretary-General Special Envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson and other leaders launched the fifth breakthrough on coastal tourism. The coastal tourism initiative will focus on infrastructure transformation, nature-based solutions, data-driven decision-making, inclusion of stakeholders (especially Indigenous people), and visitor education. The World Travel and Tourism Council underscored the importance of this breakthrough by noting that tourism is responsible for 6.5% of global emissions.

 

Tourism

  • Tackling tourism: COP29 UN Climate Change High-level Champion Nigar Arpadarai urged countries to endorse the COP29 Declaration on Enhanced Action in Tourism, which was announced today at the First Ministerial Meeting on Enhanced Climate Action in Tourism. More than 50 countries have signed on so far. COP29 marks the first COP in which tourism was included in the Action Agenda, according to Zoritsa Urosevic, executive director of UN Tourism.

 

Transportation

  • Catalyzing green shipping: RMI and partners in Denmark have launched a new platform to increase the use of alternative fuels in the shipping sector. The tool, Katalist, uses “a Book & Claim chain of custody model to allow supply to meet demand without the need for a physical connection,” and is designed to increase data transparency and integrity. 
  • Transportation playbook: Today, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Climate Change Research and Technology Program Director Gretchen Goldman released the agency’s new Climate Strategies that Work Playbook. Written specifically for transportation professionals and subnational and industry leaders, the playbook offers 27 effective, readily deployable strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. The strategies, released on a rolling basis, comprise a wide suite of options, from policy interventions and technological solutions to technical assistance resources and funding opportunities. [Includes U.S. engagement]