COP-29 Journal | Day 2: November 12

For the overall progress and issues of the Dubai Climate Conference, read our article.

For a detailed overview of the six key negotiating topics (climate financing; article 6; loss and damage; adaptation; mitigation; global assessment), consult our guide to the issues at COP-29: the essentials for understanding the context of the negotiations

Program for the 2nd day

High level sequence (High Level Segment or HLS): Heads of State and Government; Ministers)

12 – 13 nov. 2024 : 1^era part of the high level sequence.

During this sequence, the Heads of State and Government of 77 Parties to the UNFCCC (out of the 197) must deliver their national addresses. In total, according to the provisional list updated on November 10, 2024, 47 leaders take the podium on November 12 and 30 on November 13 (compared to 51 and 46 respectively according to the previous provisional list dated November 3, 2024).

Even if COP-29 is a pivotal COP, especially concerning the priority issue of setting a new collective quantified objective for climate financing from 2025, world leaders seem to grant it a weaker political profile than that of the COP-29. 27 and COP-28, judging by the lower number of Heads of State and Government who attended the high-level sequence in Baku (95 therefore, compared to 137 present during COP-28 in Dubai in Dec. 2023 and 100 during COP-27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in Nov. 2022).

Note the absence of the leaders of the two leading emitting countries in the world: President Xi Jinping of China and President Joe Biden of the United States, as well as the absence of the President of the Republic (a first since his non-arrival at COP-25, in Madrid in 2019, due to diplomatic tensions between France and Azerbaijan (conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and human rights in particular), the Prime Minister of Canada (Justin Trudeau), of Australia (Anthony Albanese), of Japan (Shigeru Ishiba), of India (Narendra Modi), of the South African President (Cyril Ramaphosa), of the President of Indonesia, 6^e GHG emitting country, source : ClimateWatch/WRI (Prabowo Subianto), the President of the European Commission (Ursula von der Leyen), the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz (although he had planned to participate in the high-level sequence, the domestic political situation made him return on his decision), of the Dutch Prime Minister, Dick Schoof (similarly, although having initially confirmed his presence, following the violence in Amsterdam around the Ajax-Israel football match, on November 7, 2024, he decided to cancel his coming to Baku). Finally, the President of Brazil, Inacio Lula da Silva, canceled his visit to Baku for health reasons. He will be replaced by the Vice President of Brazil, Geraldo Alckmin.

Of the 20 members of the G20 group of countries (19 countries + the EU as a whole), only the leaders of four countries (Brazil, Italy, the United Kingdom and Turkey) and the EU, or a quarter, participate in the high-level sequence, while all G20 countries represent 77% of GHG emissions in 2023 (source: PNUE, Emissions Gap Report 2024, 26 Oct. 2024, pV).

Participation of leaders of G20 countries during the last 3 COPs and participation scheduled for COP-29 (as of Oct. 18, 2024)

Note that since the publication of this article, the German Chancellor has announced that he is canceling his participation in COP-29 (see above). Ditto for the President of Brazil. The Prime Minister of Japan is not on the provisional list of leaders who will participate.

Source : Climate Home NewsOct. 21, 2024, according to UNFCCC

Among the influential leaders present were Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados (read our article) and William Ruto, President of Kenya.

These speeches are generally an opportunity for world leaders to present national climate policies, to bear direct witness to the impacts of climate change, to commit to providing financial support and to criticize, or even point the finger at, countries that do not. having not respected their previous commitments.

The purpose of this high-level sequence, with the presence of these world leaders, is above all to give a strong political impetus before the launch of negotiations on the various subjects on the agenda of COP-29, of the CMA -6, CPM-19, SBI-61 and SBSTA-61.

Finally, note that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Papua New Guinea, Justin Tkatchenko, announced on October 31, 2024 that his country will not participate in COP-29, on the grounds that the UN climate conference would not be that one “total waste of time…There’s no point in going if we fall asleep due to jet lag, because we won’t get anything done”. Justin Tkatchenko indicated that he also speaks “on behalf of small island states whose situation is worse than that of Papua New Guinea. They received no attention or recognition” (sources : Reporterre, Oct. 31 2024 and The World, 31 oct. 2024).

See program for the high-level sequence on November 12 and 13, 2024

12-13 November 2024: Summit of World Leaders for Climate Action (World Leaders’ Climate Action Summit or WCAS), organized at the initiative of the Azerbaijani Presidency and which will also take place over the two days in parallel with the high-level sequence).

See program for the Summit of World Leaders for Climate Action, November 12 and 13, 2024

See the terms and conditions for this Summit

As part of the Summit, three round tables are programmed:

• mitigation,
• adaptation,
• funding.

See the scoping notes for each of the three round tables.

Furthermore, still as part of the high-level sequence, a series of major high-level events (High-Level Special Events) will take place, including:

• high-level launch of the high-level dialogue on coordination and complementarity for the financing arrangements for losses and damages,
• “from commitments to action: full operationalization of the loss and damage fund”,
• COP-29 Methane Summit,
• Summit of Leaders of Small Island Developing States.

Note that the 2^e part of the high-level sequence will be held on November 19-20, 2024, with the presence of Ministers responsible for international climate negotiations (depending on the State: Ministers of the Environment, Climate and Energy, Business foreign countries, etc.) of 58 Parties, according to the provisional list dated October 18, 2024.

Learn more

CCNUCC/UNFCCC

Home page of the UNFCCC website

UNFCCC website page dedicated to COP-29

The five trading sessions

Joint informal note, written by the co-Chair of the SBSTA and the co-Chair of the SBI ahead of the SB-61 sessions, and published on October 25, 2024. This note proposes the approach and method to be followed during these sessions on October 11, 2024. to November 16, 2024 (organization and program)

Overall program of the Conference (overview scheduleversion of Nov. 2 2024)

Day by day program in detail (the program for the indicated day is posted online the evening before)

Detailed program for the 2nd day (November 12, 2024)

List of side events (side events) in Baku

Message from the Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, to Parties and observers: the challenges of COP-29 (dated 6 Nov. 2024)

NDC Register

NDC 3.0

Register of low-carbon strategies 2050 (Long term strategies ou LTS)

GHG emissions from Annex I Parties (industrialized countries)

GHG emissions from non-Annex I Parties (developing countries) (NB. non-recent emission data)

Azerbaijani presidency

Website of the Azerbaijani Presidency