Closing summary
It is after 8pm in Baku now and time for us to wrap up the live blog, as the estimated 67,000 or so delegates, lobbyists, journalists and others do their evening stuff (brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed, I hope). But before we go, here is a summary of the day’s main news lines from the summit.
The UK’s ambitious commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81% must be “the starting point, not the finish line”, commentators have said. The commitment was officially delivered to Cop29 in a statement by Keir Starmer this afternoon. It has been broadly welcomed.
Starmer made the commitment in one of dozens of statements given by national leaders on the second day of the the climate summit in Baku. But it is only now, with the big cheeses on the way home, that the serious negotiations will get underway.
Mia Mottley said the world must take radical action on raising the money needed to fund climate adaptation. “These extreme weather events that the world is facing daily suggest that humanity and the planet are hurtling towards catastrophe,” the prime minister of Barbados said.
Hilda Heine, president of Marshall Islands, called out rich countries for failing to finance cuts to pollution but encouraged poor countries to still put forward ambitious climate action plans. “It is in our blood to know when a tide is turning,” she said. “And on climate, the tide is turning today.”
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, spoke on behalf of the EU to warn against war and present itself as a credible partner to poor countries. He called out “violent imperialism, endless cycles of vengeance” as a driver of wars that have driven the world to the brink.
2024 had been “a masterclass in climate destruction”, Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general said, as he addressed world leaders who had gathered in Baku for the summit. “But there is every reason to hope,” Guterres said.
The UN’s top climate official, Simon Stiell, warned world leaders “worsening climate impacts will put inflation on steroids”. “The climate crisis is a cost-of-living crisis, because climate disasters are driving up costs for households and businesses,” he said, describing it as an “economy killer”.
The UNHCR, the UN’s refugee body, released a report saying climate breakdown is making life even more difficult for people fleeing war and persecution. It finds that three-quarters of the 120 million displaced people around the world are in countries severely affected by climate breakdown.
The UN gave the provisional number of participants in this year’s conference as 66,778. This includes everyone from heads of government to security staff to journalists. The number was significantly down from the 83,884 who attended last year’s talks in the United Arab Emirates.
A new analysis found social media platforms are becoming “dangerously polluted” by falsehoods about the climate crisis. The actions of big oil and big tech are helping reframe extreme weather events and sow conspiracy theories about renewable energy, the report found.
US president Joe Biden’s climate policy was designed to outlast his administration, the White House’s top climate adviser said at Cop29 on Tuesday, writes Dharna Noor, fossil fuels and climate reporter for the Guardian US.
“The way we built climate action in the United States was akin to the public sector coming in with booster packs on a private sector rocket,” Ali Zaidi told reporters.
The Biden administration’s landmark policy, the Inflation Reduction Act, provided billions of dollars in tax credits, loans, and other incentives for the private sector to increase its green spending. But the recently re-elected former president Donald Trump has vowed to claw back the policies “unspent” funds, sparking alarm from the climate movement.
“What we will see is whether we’ve achieved escape velocity or not and how quickly the booster packs are about to fall off,” Zaidi said.
Despite his record incentives for carbon-free energy and green technology, under the Biden administration, oil and gas production soared to record levels. When asked about the uptick, Zaidi deflected.
“The US has in the last four years has doubled its decarbonization pace from below 20% to above 40% in 2030, relative to 2005 levels,” he said. “If every country did that and did it again in the next five to 10 years, we would be headed where we need to head.”
Asked about the lame duck administration’s ability to influence climate finance negotiations at the international climate talks in Baku, Zaidi asked reporters to “keep in mind that we’re talking about a climate finance goal for 2035.”
Despite his optimism, Zaidi said he did not “mean to sugarcoat the result of the election.”
“Leadership matters and there’s no talking around that,” he said.
