The EESC at COP29

As in previous years, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) actively participated in the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP29, which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11-22 November 2024.

COP29 in Baku, dubbed the "Finance COP," was set to focus on key issues like climate finance, as trillions are needed for climate action worldwide as well as to tackle the root cause of our triple crisis. 

The EESC participated with a delegation of Peter Schmidt, the Chair of the Ad Hoc Group on COP, plus the EESC youth delegate to the UNFCCC Diandra Ní Bhuachalla.As part of the EU delegation, our delegates engaged in meaningful conversations, bilateral meetings and activities calling for more ambitious climate action, based on science and scientific information, and focused on the role of organised civil society and future generations to accelerate climate action.

Our delegates attended COP29 with the messages from the recent EESC climate finance opinion, the two 2023 contributions, and the 2022 resolution:

• EESC opinion  | EESC opinion NAT/929 on climate finance (adopted 2024)
• EESC contribution | The implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security (adopted 2023)
• EESC contribution | The just transition work programme (adopted 2023)
• EESC resolution | Jointly tackling an existential threat - social partners and civil society for the implementation of ambitious climate action, as well as the two specific contribution (adopted 2022)

In particular, the EESC (co-)organised two side-events:

• A global perspective towards fostering a just transition in the agri-food sector: bridging generations for sustainable chang
  18 November 2024, 10:00-11:00 (GMT+4) | Recording available 
• From Growth to Sufficiency: The Role of 'Cap and Share' and Other Policy Pathways for Justice and Sustainability in Climate Action
  18 November 2024, 16:45-18:15 (GMT+4)
  Co-organised with Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability (FEASTA), European Youth Forum (YFJ) and Equal Right

🤔COP29 - Key outcomes and what is next?

COP29 concluded with some agreements, but the road ahead remains challenging. The conference ended on 24 November, two days late after long and difficult negotiations, with a decision on the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) for climate finance towards developing countries. 

As such, the parties adopted a new climate finance goal of at least $300 billion annually by 2035, with developed countries taking the lead. As this amount is far from the $ 1.3 trillion requested by developing nations, a 'Baku to Belém roadmap'  was introduced to chart a course towards $ 1.3 trillion annually. Earlier at COP29, an agreement was reached on the operationalisation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which outlines a framework for bilateral and global carbon markets

COP29 also unlocked a degree of political ambition and commitments by Parties to submit their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), by the first quarter of 2025.

Looking forward, COP30 in Belém, Brazil, will likely focus on unresolved issues including adaptation and mitigation strategies, following the 2023 Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement. 

The EESC will continue to promote proper climate finance, advance on the Just Transition Work Programme, build sustainable agri-food systems, and align climate and biodiversity action.