This month’s UN climate summit – COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan – has been dubbed the “climate finance COP” because of its key goal: agreeing on how much money should be allocated each year to help developing countries cope with climate-related costs.

The debate is hotly contested after the re-election on Tuesday of former US President Donald Trump, a climate denier whose campaign vowed to take the leading oil and gas producer, which produces the largest historic greenhouse gas emissions, out of the 2015 Paris Agreement, even if only for a second, to fight climate change. it could be. time.

COP29 delegates will also seek to advance other agreements made at previous summits.

Here are some of the prominent agenda items of the 11-22 November summit:

CLIMATE FINANCE

The acronym dominating this year’s summit is NCQG, which stands for New Mass Digitized Target.

This refers to the new annual climate finance target that is expected to come into effect when the current $100 billion commitment expires at the end of this year.

Rich countries have only occasionally met this annual target since 2020, leading to increased insecurity among the world’s climate-vulnerable countries.

Rich countries insist the money cannot come entirely from their budgets, as COP29 aims to set a much higher target for the coming years.

Instead, they are discussing a much more complex effort that would involve reforming the global multilateral lending complex to reduce climate-related financial risks and encourage more private capital.

It is unclear how much of the total annual target will be delivered by rich countries. It is also unresolved whether rapidly developing countries such as China or the Middle East Gulf oil states will also contribute; A stance supported by the United States and the European Union.

Countries hope to increase their annual climate finance total by reforming the global banking system. UN agencies estimate trillions of dollars are needed each year, but officials in Azerbaijan, which hosts COP29, said the “hundreds of billions” figure had a more realistic chance of being approved by consensus.

FOSSIL FUEL TRANSITION

The COP28 summit held in Dubai last year ended with countries agreeing to “move away from fossil fuels in their energy systems” for the first time.

But since then, both fossil fuel use and export sales have continued to rise globally, while new fields have been approved for oil and gas production in countries such as Azerbaijan, the United States, Namibia and Guyana.

Negotiators said COP29 was unlikely to offer a timeline or stronger language on fossil fuels as countries and companies remain hesitant to divest from coal, oil and gas, but some countries could push for a halt to new coal plant permits.

Countries will also discuss progress on commitments to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency as a way to ease demand on fossil fuels.

CARBON MARKET RULES

Governments are keen to unravel the rules on trading carbon credits earned through protecting forests and other natural carbon sinks.

While these credits are intended to be given to countries to optionally offset their own country’s emissions, they can also be bought and sold on open markets. Business leaders are looking to COP29 to set rules to guarantee transparency and environmental integrity in projects registered with the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM).

Important issues still need to be decided, such as how the PACM supervisory body will set standards, whether loans must be evaluated before they are bought or sold, and whether and when loans can be canceled.

INCREASING TRANSPARENCY

Azerbaijan hopes countries will present their first climate action progress reports during the summit before the December 31 deadline, but it is unclear whether countries will do so.

These reports, called Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), aim to describe a country’s progress in meeting its climate goals and how far it has to go in setting new targets by February. Currently, national commitments to reduce emissions still fall far short of what is needed, the UN said last week.

BTRs will also provide insight into how much financing is currently needed in developing countries to both transition their economies away from fossil fuels and adapt to the conditions of a warmer world.

ADAPTATION IN FOCUS

Last year, countries committed to a framework of guidelines for national plans to help people adapt to climate disruptions such as hotter days, rising sea levels or arid agricultural areas.

But the adaptation framework lacks details such as measurable targets to measure progress or strategies for linking projects to climate finance.

Countries hope to set more specific adaptation targets during COP29.

MONEY FOR LOSS AND LOSS

Two years after the COP27 summit in Egypt agreed to help poor countries with the costs of climate-related disasters such as extreme floods, storms or droughts, nearly $660 million has been mobilized through the newly created Loss and Damage Response Fund, which will be headquartered in Egypt. Philippines.

Climate vulnerable countries will call on rich countries to offer more in funding.