Our round up of this month's HOT NEWS on business, sustainability, carbon and climate over the last month

This month's newletter is a little different - with so many crucial international negotiations over the last few weeks, we wanted to give a round up of those - across climate (COP29, Azerbaijan), biodiversity (COP16, Colombia) and plastics (ICN5, South Korea). Here's our round up of November...

1. Climate negotiations at COP29 (Azerbaijan)

Key progress at COP29 was limited but included:

1. Progress on Climate Finance: COP29's key agreement was a tripling of climate finance to developing nations, addressing a longstanding demand to support vulnerable nations in managing climate impacts. However, the amount pledged was still under a quarter of the USD 1.3 trillion required by 2035.
2. Advances in Carbon Markets: Key elements of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement were finalised, enabling the operationalisation of international carbon markets. This is expected to channel significant funding toward mitigation projects in developing nations. This was notably rushed through by COP hosts, Azerbaijan, with much of the detail still needing to be reviewed.
3. Enhanced Transparency: The launch of tools under the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) and the submission of Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) were important steps for holding nations accountable to their climate commitments. Does this feel like more focus on reporting when we simply need delivery of commitments made?
4. Adaptation and Resilience: Greater focus was placed on adaptation for vulnerable countries, including pledges to strengthen programs like REDD+ (aimed at halting deforestation) and supporting least developed countries in implementing climate-resilient strategies.

And yet...?

1. Ambiguity in Implementation: While financial commitments were made, details about timelines, sources, and mechanisms for delivering funds remain unclear, raising concerns about their feasibility.
2. Massively Slow Pace on Key Issues: Many viewed the pace of progress as insufficient, particularly on more ambitious emission reductions to limit warming to 1.5°C. Critics argue that the agreements fail to adequately address the urgency of the climate crisis.
3. Unresolved Challenges: COP29 left several issues for future negotiations, such as loss and damage funding mechanisms, indicating a lack of consensus on these critical topics.

COP29 was definitely not a resounding success, though it did move some areas forward, albeit slowly. It achieved incremental progress in climate finance and carbon markets, but fell short of delivering the transformative commitments needed to address the climate emergency. Was it just a placeholder ahead of COP30 in Belem, where more decisive action will be hoped for??

Read more in Carbon Brief’s comprehensive coverage here.

2.?Biodiversity negotiations at COP16

COP16 (the 2024 biodiversity conference held in Cali, Colombia) made progress on some key issues but fell short of fully resolving critical challenges.

1. Indigenous and Community Inclusion: COP16 institutionalised the meaningful involvement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including a permanent program to integrate their knowledge and rights into global biodiversity policies.

1. Financial Mechanisms: The creation of the "Cali Fund" to equitably share benefits from Digital Sequence Information (DSI) was a landmark decision, allocating significant funds to Indigenous and local communities. Additional funding pledges to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) showed ongoing commitment to biodiversity financing.

1. Marine Conservation: Approval of advanced methods to identify and update marine protected areas underlined commitments to safeguarding biodiversity in oceans.

1. Policy Updates: Many countries updated their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), aligning them with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Challenges include:

1. Unfinished Negotiations: Talks on key financial and monitoring mechanisms stalled. Disputes over funding commitments led to an incomplete resolution of the resource mobilization framework.

1. Insufficient funding: Financial pledges remained far below the estimated needs to achieve global biodiversity targets, particularly for developing countries. Critics pointed to a lack of urgency in meeting the $20 billion per year target by 2025.

1. Global Progress Lag: The world is still off-track to achieve the target of conserving 30% of land and water by 2030, a key goal of the Kunming-Montreal framework.?

Sensing a theme? COP16 also fell short of the mark. It made incremental progress on critical areas like community inclusion, financial mechanisms, and marine conservation but lacked the ambition and financial commitments needed to tackle the biodiversity crisis at the required scale. The conference demonstrated the complexity of aligning global priorities but left significant work for future meetings to address.

3.?Plastic treaty at INC 5

The recent plastic treaty meeting, held in Busan, South Korea, marked the fifth and final session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) aiming to develop a legally binding global treaty on plastic pollution. Key discussions revolved around measures to tackle the full lifecycle of plastics, from production limits to waste management, as well as financing mechanisms like a polymer fee and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The goal was to ensure equitable burden-sharing, especially benefiting developing nations through funding for waste management and pollution cleanup initiatives.

Although progress was made in drafting a treaty, there were significant challenges (!), including resistance from major plastic-producing nations and industries. Who would have guessed? These debates led to compromises in the proposed measures, such as limiting production caps and weakening commitments to address fishing and aquaculture-related plastic waste. Transparency concerns were also raised about industry influence on negotiations, prompting calls for stronger safeguards to ensure public interest is prioritised.

Despite setbacks, the meeting underscored the urgency of decisive action against plastic pollution. Fingers crossed we'll get some ambitious global commitments in the final treaty wording.

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That's all for this month! Do let us know any feedback, topics you'd like us to cover or visit us at ZeroBees.com

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