??COP29: Does the summit need an overhaul?

This is an excerpt from the Reuters Sustainable Switch COP29 daily newsletter that goes into the heart of how companies and governments are grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights. Click here to receive the full newsletter in your inbox Mon-Fri from Nov 11-22.

Hello!

Today marks the end of the first week of COP29 talks in Baku, Azerbaijan.?

?? So, what has been accomplished thus far??

?? Countries at the summit tried to make progress on how to raise up to $1 trillion in climate finance for the world's most vulnerable. The previous annual finance goal of $100 billion expires this year. But wealthy countries only met the pledge in full starting in 2022.

?? So how is it going? Well, there’s been little progress made on agreeing on a new target for how much money will be provided to help developing countries adapt to climate change and recover from destructive weather.

?? In fact, the talks are going so slowly that some delegates have signed a letter asking for a drastic revamp of the whole process.

?? Friday's letter , signed by more than 20 experts, former leaders and scientists, including former U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change boss Christiana Figueres and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the COP process had achieved much, but now needed an overhaul.

"We need a shift from negotiation to implementation, enabling the COP to deliver on agreed commitments and ensure the urgent energy transition and phase-out of fossil energy," the letter said.

A $7 trillion question

Aside from stalled talks on climate financing, Friday marks COP29’s thematic day focusing on “energy, peace, relief and recovery.”

? On the topic of energy, discussions are ongoing over reducing distortions and inefficiencies created by subsidies .

?? According to the International Energy Agency and the International Monetary Fund, removing inefficient fossil fuel subsidies could have a positive impact on energy markets, government budgets and efforts to tackle climate change.

?? Once the sum of undercharging for environmental costs and forgone tax revenues is taken into account, explicit subsidies – or money spent by governments on undercharging for supply costs – amounted to $7 trillion in 2022, or 7.1% of global GDP.

War and extreme weather

?? As for discussions around peace, relief and recovery, a group of conflict-affected countries is pushing to double financial aid to more than $20 billion a year to combat the natural disaster and security crises facing their populations.

In a letter seen by Reuters, the group says its members have struggled to access private investment, as they are seen as too risky.?

That means U.N. funds are even more critical to their populations, many of which have been displaced by war and extreme weather.

In response, the COP29 Azerbaijan Presidency launched a new “Network of Climate-vulnerable Countries”, including a number of countries that belong to the g7+, an intergovernmental group of fragile countries, which first sent the appeal.

?? Editor’s choice?

? Energy: Oil and gas majors TotalEnergies, BP, Shell and Equinor pledged to invest $500 million – 0.7% of some $70 billion in net profit the four companies collectively earned in 2023 – to increase access to affordable energy, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, south and southeast Asia.

Click here for the full Reuters report.

??In Conversation

Commenting on COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Simon Rawson, deputy CEO at ShareAction, said:

"As world leaders gather in Baku for COP29, we are running out of time to shift our economies off fossil fuels towards a safer future.

There can be no doubt that the finance sector is critical to driving our economic transition to net zero, yet it continues to pour money into harmful high-carbon activities while failing to do enough to support industries to decarbonise and invest in green energy and infrastructure."

Instead of asset managers successfully stewarding companies to transition at the pace required, too often we see greenwashing and finger pointing. Alongside calling on policymakers for robust regulation, investors need to be doing far more to protect people and our natural world. We can't afford to wait."

?? ESG Spotlight

?? Today’s spotlight shines a light on my home nation of Kenya as people at the coastal village of Mwazaro have turned to seaweed planting due to drought hitting their staples of cassava and maize.

?? Seaweed farming was first introduced in Kenya in 2008 and has expanded rapidly to cover 20 villages, David Mirera, a scientist at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), said.

Higher temperatures, rising sea levels and poor rains have all played their part in the shift.

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