COP29: Long nights in Azerbaijan

Islamic Relief’s Senior Policy Advisor on Poverty Reduction, Jamie Williams, reports in as COP29 gets underway in Baku, Azerbaijan.

We have to be optimistic.

It’s been a hard year in negotiating between countries on how to deal with the climate crisis. We have seen deadlines pass, promises unfulfilled and recently, a distinct feeling that not all parties are acting in the best of faith.

Here at COP29 expectations have been well a managed, and we were not hoping for much.

But there is something different in the air, and it’s not just the stench of the oil fields that surround the city.

It seems that countries have come to this COP with a sense that enough is enough, delay and prevarication simply will not do.

And what is interesting is the way that’s playing out. 

In previous COPs the first of the 2 weeks has been largely a restating of positions. Essentially, the countries who are suffering and the rich countries who must pay, setting out their opposing arguments for justice on one hand and ‘realism’ on the other.

But this time, instead of leaving the nitty-gritty arguments on detail for long nights in the second week – with the pressure on as the end of the conference draws closer and closer – the hours-long and difficult discussions have started this week. 

Long nights with even longer documents to sift through

Islamic Relief was observing the discussions until nearly midnight yesterday, the first proper day of negotiations.

And there is still a long way to go. The draft text on the vital finance agreement runs to 34 pages and 186 paragraphs. This helps nobody.

Islamic Relief is ploughing through 7 pages of colour coded small print which is meant to set out the process to formulate and act on national adaptation plans.

There is no text yet on the Global Goal for Adaptation, but we are expecting a large document containing sometimes contradictory positions that will need to be resolved.

The outcomes of these deliberations are vital to our work in supporting of some of the world’s most vulnerable and marginalised people to deal with the climate crisis

More long nights lay ahead. But better now when the energy is there than next week when the challenges of poorly organised logistics and facilities at this year’s conference have truly taken their toll.   

We have to be optimistic, for now.

Author photo: Simon Chambers/ACT