After last year’s successful COP28 experience, the first edition of our specially designed COP29 Bulletin is out, and you can read it here. Thank you for journeying and engaging with us in this crucial event of our time!

As COP29 starts next week in Baku, attention turns to the potential outcomes of this pivotal gathering. Read about the three calls in the Jesuits for Climate Justice Global Statement here.

The opening session of COP29 is a formality before the intense international negotiations which will begin at the World Climate Action Summit tomorrow. Read about the main participating leaders and the main issues at stake here.

Today is the first of the two-day World Climate Action Summit, where many world leaders will meet to discuss the global strategies guiding COP29, and indeed moment to see with which “truth” they are facing the current climate crisis. Read here.

The first day of the World Climate Action summit did not disappoint in providing some unexpected soundbites. The most notable of which came from Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev who commented that Oil and gas are a ‘gift of God’. This was in the context of his criticism of western countries that Azerbaijan was hosting the conference despite its heavy reliance on the oil and gas industry. Read here.

The second day of the World Climate Action Summit showed signs of division, with two major countries taking a step back already from negotiations. Emmanuel Macron’s government was so infuriated by Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani President, accusations of neocolonialism against France and the Netherlands that they cancelled the trip of the Climate Minister to Baku. Read here.

As we approach the halfway mark in Baku, agreement in significant parts of the agenda seems a long way off with the entire system itself being called into question. A group of influential climate policy experts have stated that “It is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose. Read here.

Today marks the beginning of the second week of COP29 which uniquely coincides with the G20 Summit which starts today in Brazil. Considering the lack of heads of state attending this COP, UN Secretary-General  António Guterres has urged that this can be an opportunity to “show leadership” in the context of stalling negotiations at COP29. Read here.

The Plenary Session on Monday 18 November showed that the gulf between developed and developing nations at COP29 remains enormous. Each group blames the other for the lack of progress so far. The key issue is who is to pay how much for the changes developing countries have to make, and by what mechanisms. Read here.

Deadlock continues at COP29 as divisions multiply. The key issue is the provision of money to financially poorer “developing” nations by “developed” nations so they can adapt to climate change and cut their own emissions. There is disagreement about what counts as climate finance, how much should be provided, whether money should all come from public sources or not, whether it can include loans rather than grants, and who should pay it. Read here.

It is the beginning of the final stretch of COP29 in Baku and the next two days of negotiations will prove critical. In what by now will be a familiar statement, the draft text regarding climate finance remains “clearly unacceptable”. Read here.

Despite being scheduled to finish on Friday evening, it was only at 2 AM on Sunday that COP29 finally concluded after many contentious negotiations. A deal saw wealthy nations commit to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year for those countries most affected by climate change. This sum falls short of the estimated $1300 billion deemed necessary, or the minimum $500 million called by many developing countries, with one delegate from India describing it as ‘a paltry sum’. Read here.