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The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is kicking off in Baku, Azerbaijan, and will be continuing for the next two weeks. What’s the purpose of the annual summit, what’s the focus this year, and after almost three decades of discussions, can we be hopeful that they’ll actually make an impact this time?
Every year since the mid-1990s, world leaders have come together to accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is an annual event that primarily revolves around negotiations and debates, with an overarching aim of reviewing progress towards the UNFCCC’s goal of limiting environmental breakdown.
On occasion, COP has resulted in promising new treaties and refined targets, such as the 2015 Paris Agreement which saw 196 countries pledge to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
More often than not, however, it has failed to confront the problem on a large enough scale, raising concerns among scientists and activists that the summit consistently lacks the urgency, willingness, and commitment that’s required to make a tangible impact.
What happens at COP?
As mentioned, COP is a pivotal opportunity for people in power to advance concrete solutions to the defining issues of our time, specifically rising temperatures, ever-worsening natural disasters, and how disproportionately the climate crisis is affecting vulnerable populations.
Taking place in a different city every year to demonstrate the essentiality of cross-functional collaboration, parties make decisions on ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions (phasing out fossil fuels is of course the most necessary), Loss and Damage, sustainable transitions (think, renewable energy), adaptation, and resilience-building.
Today, the 29th session is kicking off in Baku, Azerbaijan, and will be continuing for the next two weeks.
What will be the focus?
To bring structure to the conference and cover all bases, themes are assigned to each day.
