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This past weekend marked the end of the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP (short for Conference of the Parties). The conference lasted for two weeks and I had the opportunity to attend the second half as an observer representing the University of Connecticut, where I am a masters student. As an observer I was able to attend a number of panels, press conferences, and even multilateral negotiations between different nations from around the world.

The conference began two weeks ago marred in controversy. For the third year in a row, a major oil exporting nation, Azerbaijan, was chosen to host the climate talks (this effect was seen in the plenary halls as the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, referred to fossil fuels as a “gift from god”). Additionally, there were major reservations by civil society and the international community to hold talks in Azerbaijan due to the nation’s poor human rights record. Finally, overshadowing all was the recent results of the United States presidential election and the consequences it might hold for international cooperation on climate change.

This COP has been referred to as the “finance COP” due to its focus on creating a climate financing framework to help pay for a global transition away from fossil fuels.  According to the UNEP’s 2024 Emissions Gap Report (released at this year’s COP), the world must provide at least $0.9 – 2.1 trillion USD over the next decade to both help finance the global transition and help pay for the mitigation and adaptation required by developing countries that will be most impacted by climate change. While previous COP’s have focused on countries emissions, this one focused on dollars and cents, which made the atmosphere and especially the negotiations much more thorny.

Attending the negotiations during the second week, I could tell that there was a degree of entrenchment. Negotiations are held in giant meeting halls, with a large circular or rectangular table dotted with diplomats and negotiators from nearly every nation. It really does look like it does in the movies. These negotiations are facilitated either by the COP President or by other UN facilitators. Each country has an equal opportunity to speak, but the conversations were dominated by familiar players: the United States, China, the EU, as well as the African and Arab groups. The overarching narrative of this COP both inside the negotiating halls and outside was that of developed countries who mainly contributed to climate change vs. developing countries who would have to pay the consequences.

While negotiations had been ongoing throughout the week, the first draft of this finance plan was released on Thursday at 3 a.m. It had no finance target and two options for financing structure with two days left of negotiations. Then an updated draft text was released on Friday at noon, detailing a finance target of $250 billion in loans to be financed by developed and developing countries. This is the point where, with only 12 hours left to negotiate, things seemed like they were about to implode. Developing nations called the draft text insulting. Even as I was walking around the Old City in Baku that night, I ran into a delegate from Costa Rica who said that negotiations had become a “nightmare.” Things looked dire. As midnight passed, COP negotiations were supposed to end, but the presidency did not gavel out, instead extending the negotiations to try and preserve a deal. While there was tension (most of which happened while I was on a plane back home), a deal was finally agreed to a little before 3 a.m. on Sunday. The deal included $300 billion in climate finance, what many consider an insufficient start, but a start nonetheless.

Observing these negotiations and attending this COP has made me realize how important the work we have ahead is. We have achieved progress, but more must be done. Since 2015, we have changed our climate trajectory from nearly 6° C to just 2.8° C over the course of 10 years. A main element of any COP is the information and experience sharing of people from all across the globe working to combat climate change. From what I gathered, progress is made not in the grand negotiation halls but instead with small steps taken by regular people. I met with farmers from Bangladesh who have successfully used agroecology to grow food sustainably. I met with advocates from Oceania to West Africa that are working with REDD+ to protect their natural lands to help fight climate change. I have met with climate activists who have dedicated their life to fighting for a more sustainable world. The work we do as land trusts to steward the environment is essential in this mission. The consensus is that effective land conservation that captures carbon will be crucial in the fight against climate change. CLCC is committed to this fight. As local advocates, we should take this heavy responsibility in stride and use it to propel and inspire the work that we do. In all, this COP made me realize the future really is in our hands.

If you want to learn more about some of the thoughts that I or others in my cohort had in the middle of the conference, you can read more perspectives here on the UConn Office of Sustainability’s website.

Photo of Baku Olympic Stadium, home of the COP29 Blue Zone where UN climate negotiations were held from Nov. 11-24th