You know those moments when you don’t want to look, but know that you have to... well the end of a climate COP can feel just like that. And this COP certainly didn’t disappoint in terms of drama. On Saturday it looked as though the meeting might limp to an exhausted halt as small island states and others left the negotiating room over the lack of ambition in discussions on a new finance deal for developing countries. A key aim for this COP, you could be excused for thinking the finance deal was the only aim  – with the Azerbaijan Presidency putting all the emphasis on it being a ‘finance COP’. 

A result was eventually reached – but with an agreement to invest $300 billion per year by 2035 for climate support in developing countries, many will be disappointed – with those countries calling for at least $1.3 trillion. Plenty has been said about this already in the news, but the general feeling seems to be the usual relief from most delegates that something was agreed at all, but disappointment that ambition wasn’t on show from more countries, especially given where the world is in terms of climate impacts and teetering on the edge of 1.5°C of warming. 

But what about the things we wanted to see from a climate and nature perspective?  It’s been hard to identify progress on our three asks, but there were a few glimmers: 

Faster action to reduce emissions now  

The UK announced its latest ‘nationally determined contribution’ for 2035: an 81% reduction in emissions. A positive, being both ambitious and in good time, ahead of the deadline next year when these latest contributions are required.

Around the COP, the UK was also seen as being much more centre stage and rolling its sleeves up compared to previous years, including being pulled into efforts to broker a deal on finance.

Although this was seemingly without much communication to the UK delegation of what was being asked from them. More widely however, the discussions on pushing forward last year’s global stocktake – which is about ratcheting up emissions reduction targets (you would think the key part of any COP) - fell apart over what was in or out of those discussions, including fossil fuels. This feels a bit maddening, but it’s worth remembering that the substance is what matters, and that will be what targets countries put forward next year, and then whether they are meeting them. But apart from a star turn by the UK Government, we didn’t see much that felt hopeful from this COP. 

Putting nature recovery centre stage  

In my view, nature was very poorly represented at this COP compared to the last three. There was no overarching decision text to articulate the themes of importance from the negotiations, which could have included a statement or direction on nature, partly because the Presidency saw no point in producing one. The long-awaited rules on carbon trading between countries, known as Article 6, was finally ushered through on Day 1, though some delegations ctiticised the way this was done without their consent. Beyond this, nature was restricted to surrounding side events and commentary from observers than it was in the actual negotiations. Given that this COP came hot on the heels of the nature COP in Colombia, in some ways this was surprising, but perhaps not given the absence of nature focus from the Azerbijan Presidency.  

Commitments to adaptation action and funding  

In 2023, progress was made at COP28 with the adoption of a global goal on climate adaptation. This year, we really wanted to see progress on funding and metrics to help to measure progress. However, negotiations got stuck on what the metrics should cover, including how they would cover finance; this led to the process on indicators being pushed into the next COP. Whilst this was expected, as it is a two-year work programme, the final text contained lots of specific things to consider in 12 months. Two points that were recognised included: 

• Indicators that are relevant to specific ecosystems 

• The need for transformational adaptation, meaning actions that go far beyond trying to maintain the status quo under the threat of climate change.  

This is an important message for nature conservation bodies. At The Wildlife Trusts, we want to see the UK showing the same sort of ambition on adaptation next year as it has on emissions reduction this year. 

No surprises... 

We didn’t hold out high hopes for this COP, so the result was not unexpected. COP30 will be held in Brazil and we expect this to be a big deal on nature, adaptation and emissions reduction goals. Hopefully some of the detail that was often overlooked in the texts from this year’s COP29 will help to smooth the way on some issues. And in the meantime, as we’ve said repeatedly, action speaks louder than words.