What COP29 meant for climate finance, mitigation and role of the private sector
By Margherita Barbieri, Climate and Energy Standards Lead, GRI
The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) concluded on 22 November in Baku, Azerbaijan, after two full weeks of negotiations, events, and discussions. While this major UN summit highlighted both progress and setbacks in global climate action, it also left the global community with mixed feelings about the outcomes.
Unofficially referred to as the ‘finance COP’, CO29 was built on the pillars of ‘enabling action’, which includes securing financing to reduce emissions, adapting to climate change, and addressing loss and damage, and ‘enhancing ambition’ — ensuring countries commit to bold climate plans with transparency.
With climate finance essential for implementing concrete mitigation and adaptation strategies, do the new finance goals, reached during the conference, suffice? Let’s review the key highlights and unresolved issues from the pivotal climate summit in Baku.
Climate finance and goals: a bittersweet achievement
One of the most significant outcomes was the agreement on a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance. Developed countries pledged to allocate at least US$300 billion annually by 2035 to assist developing nations in combating climate change.
While the agreement marks progress, the pledged amount is far below the $1.3 trillion annually requested by developing countries. This shortfall is especially glaring in light of the Integrity Matters: The Hard Work is Now report, commissioned by the UN Secretary General António Guterres, that revealed global fossil fuel subsidies totaled $7 trillion in 2022. Redirecting even a fraction of these subsidies could have facilitated a much more ambitious finance goal.
Mitigation: a stalemate on greenhouse gas emissions
One of key issues at COP29 was centered around reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but progress was stymied by political gridlock. The 2024 UNEP Emissions Gap Report, released ahead of the conference, warned that current national commitments (NDCs) put the world on a path to warming of up to 2.6°C by the century’s end — well above the Paris Agreement targets of limiting temperature rises to between 1.5 and 2°C.
Despite this alarming forecast, discussions on mitigation stalled due to opposition from countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and some African nations. The final agreement avoided any mention of phasing out fossil fuels, peaking emissions, or concrete steps to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
Just transition: limited progress
The concept of a ‘just transition’, which aims to ensure that climate actions prioritize human and social impacts, unfortunately saw little progress during the summit. Similar to negotiations on the mitigation efforts, those on just transition also remained in a stalemate, disappointing advocates who argue that equity should be central to climate solutions.
Private sector is behind on climate goals
The UN Secretary General’s Integrity Matters report, presented in Baku, also assessed private sector progress toward net-zero targets. The findings highlighted significant shortcomings:
- Fossil fuel phase-out: most companies, states and cities lack urgent and much needed commitments to phase out fossil fuels in line with the Paris Agreement timelines.
- Carbon credits misuse: many companies rely on carbon credits to offset GHG emissions rather than making real emissions reductions. Transparency issues further undermine trust, with few companies setting limits on the use of credits or ensuring their environmental integrity. The report also showcased a few examples of national policies that limit the use of carbon credits, indicating a serious gap in the very definition of net-zero policies.
- Nature conservation: since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022, both governments and companies have shown slow progress in implementation. Only a few countries have submitted their biodiversity plans, and corporate efforts remain in their infancy — all the while global indicators of biodiversity continue to decline.
Looking ahead: the road to COP30
While COP29 achieved a landmark agreement on climate finance, the lack of decisive action on mitigation, just transition and private sector accountability underscores the great work that remains.
In his closing remarks during the roundtable on the stock take for the climate actions of the private sector, António Guterres urged governments and companies to arrive at COP30 — to take place in Belém, Brazil, in 2025 — with ambitious and transparent transition plans. He also emphasized the need to make such plans, together with the reduction targets, mandatory. In the EU, at least, progress is being made on that front with its Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and other regulatory frameworks.
Greater accountability and transparency are a prerequisite, particularly regarding bringing social impacts at the core of climate reporting (the basis of a just transition), GHG emissions reduction targets, phasing out of fossil fuels, and Scope 3 emissions (those generated throughout a company’s value chain). The good news is that the private sector has the tools to act now, including established standards such as the GRI Universal Standards and the forthcoming GRI Climate Change and Energy Standards, which will launch in early 2025. However, the urgency for implementation is greater than ever.
About the author
Margherita Barbieri is a manager in the GRI Topic Standards Team, where she is leading the projects to develop GRI Climate Change and Energy Standards. Before joining GRI, Margherita worked in the food and beverage industry, specializing in marketing and sustainability. She also led the World Economic Forum circular economy initiative, Scale 360°, in Turin. She completed the Executive Programmes in Corporate Sustainability and Leadership from Saïd Business School (UK) and holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Turin (Italy).