November 23, 2024
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) on the conclusion of COP29 in Baku

• Statement of President Nathaniel Keohane and
• Statement of Vice President of International Strategies Kaveh Guilanpour

Nathaniel Keohane, President:

“Throughout the two weeks of the COP, one thing was unmistakable: Presidential election or no, the rest of the world is racing ahead in the low carbon economy. Businesses and investors around the globe are pouring capital into clean energy and low-carbon technology. Pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement would be a massive unforced error that would diminish America’s standing in the world and undermine our competitiveness at a critical juncture.”

“The adoption of guidance to fully operationalize the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 paves the way for countries to use carbon markets to help meet their targets, while ensuring those markets have environmental integrity. High-integrity markets can unlock deeper and faster cuts in carbon pollution — enabling countries to work together to make and meet more ambitious emissions targets reductions targets while facilitating the flow of much-needed finance to the global South.”

Kaveh Guilanpour, Vice President of International Strategies:

“With the new climate finance goal agreed at COP29, all eyes will now turn to the climate targets that countries are required to come forward with early next year. Only then will have a clearer picture of how serious the world is about cutting greenhouse gas emissions. So far only two countries have come forward. And emissions continue to rise. 

“Many countries — and in particular the most vulnerable to climate change — are clearly deeply concerned by the absence of a clear signal from COP29 on cutting greenhouse gas emissions or following up on the global stocktake outcome from COP28, including on the energy transition. 

‘’Ultimately the Paris Agreement is a mirror that reflects back to the world what it is willing to do on climate. It is showing us that collective political commitment does not add up to what is necessary to limit global temperature increase to the 1.5°C limit of the Paris Agreement. COP30 in Brazil is shaping up to be a pivotal moment to change that, coming half way through what the UN Secretary General has called the ‘critical decade’ to tackle climate change.”

“COP29 succeeded in delivering on its main objective: agreeing a New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance (NCQG). At its core, this comprises developed countries taking the lead in providing and mobilizing US $300 billion  per annum for developed countries by 2035. While many developing countries are clearly disappointed with this figure, and some rejected it after it was adopted, the fact that this outcome was achieved at all was not guaranteed, given the wider global geopolitics and political headwinds in developed countries.”