By Ochieng’ Ogodo
[NAIROBI] For many African scientists and thought leaders, the end of COP29 held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November 2024 marked the beginning of the discussion about whether the meeting had any real value for the continent.
Delegates and those at home who eagerly awaited effective commitments to ameliorate the impact of the use of fossil fuels in the global north, felt sidelined and that their concerns were not being taken seriously.
“There were nearly 2,000 fossil fuel lobbyists at COP29,” comments Tibebu Assefa, Regional Technical Advisor, Air Quality, East Africa for C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. “We had high hopes of the landmark agreement at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels, but this topic was notably sidelined in formal discussions, reflecting Azerbaijan's prioritisation of natural gas expansion over climate urgency.
“I feel that corporate interests overshadowed the voices of vulnerable nations and the communities most affected by climate change,” he says.
According to Assefa, the Baku COP29 fell short in several areas, including achieving consensus on crucial issues such as the just transition work program and the implementation of Global Stocktake outcomes.
He explains that just transition is the change from a carbon-based economy to a non-polluting one, ensuring no one is left behind while the Paris Agreement's first Global Stocktake highlights the need for a transition from fossil fuels.
He is also worried about the lack of importance given to urban and subnational financing mechanisms in the discussions at the meeting. Cities and local governments, Assefa explains, are often the ones leading on climate action but the COP29 finance architecture didn’t provide direct access to resources for these actors which is key to implementing climate mitigations and adaptation at the local level.
There was also a lack of transparency and urgency in setting up the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance: “Developing countries have stressed the importance of funding needs measured in trillions, yet negotiations appeared gridlocked, with little clarity on how these funds would be allocated or mobilized effectively,” says Assefa.
Shift in power dynamics
According to Alice Kaudia, former Environment Secretary at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Kenya, reforms to make the COP continue to be relevant are urgently needed.
She believes that a model for taking action, ensuring accountability and transparency, monitoring effectiveness, and drawing lessons for continuous improvement is needed.
“The world does not need over 50000 people locked up in conference halls for hours, for final decisions to be made the last minute during late hours of the night when most delegates from developing countries have left the conference because invariably, they are largely funded to such conferences by developed countries,” says Kaudia, an agricultural scientist, forestry, extension and development expert.
According to Kaudia, the dichotomy of influence between fossil fuel-producing countries and those being pushed to transition to cleaner energy should be eliminated through equity, and equal representations under the leave-no-one-behind principle.
“Notably, going to the COP30 in 2025 will be 30 years of talking about the need to take action on climate change described as emergency, threat, devastating, crisis, catastrophic.… but limited action,” she states.
Nnimmo Bassey, director of the Nigeria-based Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), says that the NCQG ignores historical responsibility and requires everyone to contribute to the finance pot. “It took a lot of kicking and screaming before a pledge of $300 billion by 2035 was made. That pledge ignored the fact that economists [said] before that the finance needed would be in the range of 5 to 8 trillion dollars yearly,” says Bassey.
The closure of the democratic space at the COP has led to critical decisions being made in private rooms and simply placed on the table for ramming through. “For instance, the shrinkage of voices was manifested on the Global Day of Action when civil society delegates were only allowed a silent march through the hallway of the COP venue,” Bassey adds.
Samuel Okulony, Chief Executive Officer of Uganda-based Environment Governance Institute (EGI) says the Baku COP was a major letdown. “The global South came intending to raise US$ 1.3 trillion in climate finance but went home with only 300 billion dollars by 2035. The global North [has refused] to pay their climate debt, even though they are the countries that have contributed the most to creating the climate crisis.”
He believes there is a need for COP reforms that include limiting the influence of lobbyists, introducing mechanisms for greater transparency and binding targets, and ensuring equitable decision-making.
There is also the need to expand platforms for Indigenous communities, grassroots activists, and scientific bodies to help center the voices of those most affected by climate change while grounding discussions in evidence-based solutions.
“It is clear that the political and commercial interest of the Global North and oil states take up the most space at the COP. The scientific institutions, indigenous communities, and activists are scraping for passes to enter the COP and if they are lucky to get in, it is still [the] big commercial interest that sets the agenda and buys the pavilions.”
Africa Climate Reports, COP29 Azerbaijan, Climate Diplomacy and Security
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