Opinion | Once Again, A Trump-Sized Fear For COP

World leaders are set to congregate in Baku, Azerbaijan, as it hosts the UN's 29th climate summit, COP29 (Conference of the Parties), from November 11 to 22. The key agenda before the Baku climate summit is to increase the scale of climate finance for developing countries. It is also being referred to as the 'climate finance COP', as its main goal is to decide how much funding should be allocated each year to help developing countries cope with climate-related costs.

This summit comes at a critical moment, as the world continues its multilateral efforts to address climate change. Since its first meeting in Berlin, Germany, in 1995, the goal of COP has been to curb global warming to below 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels to avoid catastrophic damage to the planet. Sadly, the world continues to ignore this limit. There is an expectation that countries will explore more rigorous methods for emission reduction.

This dialogue is expected to be particularly challenging due to the leadership transition in the US. President-elect Donald Trump has a poor track record on climate action, having pushed for fossil fuel expansion and abandoned the Paris Agreement during his first term. He has promised to continue with the same policies during his election campaign. Let's examine the key themes on which COP29 is scheduled to deliberate at the Baku summit.