Africa’s contribution to global carbon emissions is negligible (less than or equal to 3%) but suffers severely from the aftermath. The continent has already experienced such conditions with ongoing propensity. It urgently needs a strong push to take a unanimous and coherent stand on this issue.
Comprising about 17% of the global population, the most emissions come from only three main countries: South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria, contributing about 60% of the entire continent.
Now that the agenda is on the table in COP29, considering the prior negotiations and the pending status, Africa as a continent still falls short of expectations.
The promises are partially fulfilled, yet most are non-binding; hence, the continent remains in limbo. The accountability and action on developed nations’ longstanding, unmet financial pledges are eagerly anticipated in COP29 to materialize. Will this COP bear such anticipations for Africa?
This remains an open question. Depending on how the agenda is pushed, within the timeframe of 11 days, Africa’s unmet desires and expectations may bear fruit.
The global delegations will meet in Baku, Azerbaijan, between November 11th and 21st, 2024, to continue the agenda on climate negotiations. This is a meeting of 198 countries that have signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The states or countries that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, where they review the implementation of the Convention and deliberate on pending issues.
It is known as COP, which means Convention of the Parties. This being the 29th series, dubbed Finance COP29, it has overarching meaning to the continent. It is also an avenue for counterparts as it unveils the opportunity to offset emissions to fulfil the obligation set under the convention.
This year, there were three COPs, one of which was the recently held UN biodiversity summit COP 16 in Cali, Colombia, from 21 October to 1 November 2024.
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Another was the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)—COP16, held in Saudi Arabia from 02 to 13 December 2024. The very current climate change COP29 was kicked off in Azerbaijan from 11 to 21 November 2024.
This time, the COP29 agenda focuses on four main points, although some other sub-agendas are essentially embedded within. Despite these four precise focus points, the agenda must also be inclusive, reflecting all needs, including Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women, youth, and all Constituencies.
Hereunder is an account of the four priority agenda items for COP29. These priorities are the cornerstones of this convention.
Priority one is climate finance and the related new Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). The NCQG is a key element of the Paris Agreement, designed to set a new financial target to support developing countries in their climate actions post-2025.
However, based on the trend, this target is still disputed compared to the initial anticipation target.
In 2009, the main polluters, the Developed Countries, promised 100 billion dollars to finance climate initiatives in developing countries as a standard financial framework support.
Although this has not been fully realised, there is a need to ensure that this agenda is pushed enough to get finances to support climate initiatives, which are missing in the global South.
Therefore, this COP29 is speculated to be a turning point as it will likely facilitate negotiating priority on NCQG, which will be a major financial milestone since the 1995 Paris Agreement.
Another priority area is adaptation and mitigation. Although the two approaches have been common practices, adaptation has overshadowed mitigation. Although they were meant to function in parallel, they are still not in concurrency.
Besides National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), technical and financial support remains an agent for meeting the developing country strategies stipulated in their respective NAPs.
This will be another strong agenda item to be discussed, including assessing progress in implementation, finding a way forward, and supporting mechanisms.
Fixing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is also a priority. According to this article, countries can pursue voluntary cooperation in implementing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to allow for higher mitigation ambition and promote sustainable development.
Progress in this direction is still at an infant stage. A few countries have entered into agreements for green projects and have yet to reveal positive gestures. Therefore, it aims to facilitate international cooperation on climate action through market and non-market mechanisms.
Others have implications for greenwashing, which has witnessed carbon projects without real emissions reductions. Several past COPs failed to pass the agenda, but now, a well-functioning carbon market firmly fixed within the UNFCCC machinery is more important than ever.
The parties aim to establish stronger rules for global emissions trading, a long-awaited step toward harmonizing and regulating emerging emissions trading.
Finally, damage and loss funding is prioritized. This is also part of the important agenda, as there has been a need to help vulnerable states suffering from climate damage and other losses. New funding channels need to be formulated and affirmed to it, particularly from non-climate funds (out of traditional climate finance).
Loss and damage have emerged since COP29 and remained unfinished. Now, in this COP, all eyes are on the agenda to see how it becomes operational.
It was left unfinished and unclear which financing stream would be used, so it has an open agenda that may find a way to fulfil the desire to support states suffering from climate disasters.
The loss and damage funding can come from government, non-profits, philanthropies, and community sources. These can be unique, extending beyond traditional ways likely to come out with insurance, social protection and bonds relating to natural disasters and catastrophes.
If successfully negotiated, these four main agendas carry a heavy weight to African negotiators/ delegates and the world. With representation flocking to Baku, we expect the turning of the wind of changes; short of that, we should expect fewer tangible results.
Most COPs have used to end up with dismay to all parties, but this year‘s seems more vibrant and a turning point.
When the climate is positive, African countries will witness the growing climate projects and investments across the continent. It is also obvious that the African continent remains the ideal ground for climate projects, giving a big push for offsetting emission reductions.
We remain optimistic that COP29 will deliver a supportive healing of Africa and, subsequently, the global climate.
