‘Finance COP’ wrong-foots after fossil fuel backlash in first week

THE annual Conference of the Parties (COP) summits are widely seen as the jewel in the crown of global climate diplomacy, with this year’s event billed as the “finance COP”. However, the Azerbaijan-hosted meeting last week had the most stumbling start to any such summit in recent years, which should now lead to comprehensive reform of the process.

The challenges, however, go well beyond a not-fit-for-purpose Azerbaijan event. In addition, geopolitics is becoming increasingly caught up in climate diplomacy. The latter factor was shown, for instance, in the decision of French ministers last week not to attend COP29 following critical comments about Paris’ overseas territories by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.

To be sure, there have been some key achievements in Baku in week one, even though these have been wrapped in some controversy too. For instance, Nov 11, the first day of the event, saw a deal on rules that govern the trade of carbon credits, breaking a long deadlock. For many market participants, this is a very welcome breakthrough.