COP29 opens with Trump climate withdrawal looming

COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan overshadowed by Trump's re-election, urgent need for climate funding, and rising global temperatures.

The COP29 climate talks open Monday (November 11, 2024) in Azerbaijan, under the long shadow cast by the re-election of Donald Trump, who has pledged to row back on the United States' carbon-cutting commitments.

Countries come to Baku for the main United Nations forum for climate diplomacy after new warnings that 2024 is on track to break temperature records, adding urgency to a fractious debate over climate funding.

But Trump's return will loom over the discussions, with fears that an imminent US departure from the landmark Paris agreement to limit global warming could mean less ambition around the negotiating table.

"We cannot afford to let the momentum for global action on climate change be derailed," said Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's special envoy for climate change and environment.

"This is a shared problem that will not solve itself without international cooperation, and we will continue to make that case to the incoming president of one of the world's largest polluters."

Outgoing President Joe Biden is staying away, as are many leaders who have traditionally appeared early in COP talks to lend weight to the proceedings.

Just a handful of leaders from the Group of 20, whose countries account for nearly 80% of global emissions, are attending.