techUK’s COP29 Round Up

Background

The 29th United Nations Conference of Parties (COP29) was held in Baku between 11 – 22 November 2024. Arriving halfway between the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 and the target year of substantial emissions reduction by 2030, this year’s conference also saw a newly negotiated climate finance target, known as the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG).

COP29 is the middle of three summits designed to ‘reset’ global climate action – what the UN calls the ‘Roadmap to Mission 1.5°C’ and was focused on making finance available for developing countries to enable this response, particularly with many in the Global South most at risk of the impact of climate change. Held in Azerbaijan, COP29 suffered from controversy throughout given the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and an undiversified economy, alongside its own authoritarian politics which has made criticism fraught.

Below you will find an overview of the key activities throughout the summit, as well as a summary of the first day at a COP focused on the role of digitalisation in combatting climate change. Readers will also see what the UK has been up to, and what this all means more widely for the tech sector here.

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The First Digitalisation Day

COP29 was the first to hold a Digitalisation Day and other roundtables with the impact of new technologies such as AI high on the agenda. The introduction of this day reflects the growing understanding of the role that technology will play if the world is to overcome rising temperatures and comes off the back of research more widely showing that with greater digitalisation there is concern over rising energy demand, including the WEF’s estimate that the power dedicated to AI is doubling every 100 days.

Alongside the high-level roundtable, central to the day was Declaration on Green Digital Action, calling for sector-wide collaboration to accelerate digitalisation for overcoming climate change, improving energy efficiency and promoting digital inclusivity. Endorsed by more than 90 governments and over 1,000 members of the digital technology sector, the Declaration in the words of the ITU’s Secretary-General Dorren Bogdan-Martin should ‘propel us forward with the shared belief that we can and must reduce the environmental footprint of digital technologies while leveraging their undeniable potential to tackle the climate crisis.’

Stakeholders will aim to maintain this momentum ahead of COP30, harnessing digital solutions to adapt to our new world and help to mitigate further climate change impact, all the while addressing the IT sector’s emissions and waste footprint, ensuring a sustainable future. Meanwhile, the ITU will now seek to incorporate the declaration into policies that support countries with their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and wider climate assessments.

techUK was pleased to partner with the ITU last year at COP28 with the announcement of the Green Digital Action campaign, placing tech at the forefront of climate ambition .

UK Specific Updates

UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has made it clear throughout his tenure as both the opposition leader and now as prime minister that he wants the UK to be a world leader on fighting climate change, and this was clearly reflected in Baku. With many G20 world leaders absent from the summit, Starmer attendance showed that the UK ‘was building on [its] reputation as a climate leader’ as he told reporters.

Key announcements made by the UK Government, comprising the Prime Minister’s speech in Baku alongside wider updates, included:

The UK’s NDC will have a headline target to reduce overall emissions by 81 per cent compared with 1990 levels by 2035, per recommendations made by the Climate Change Committee.

The UK would be launching a Global Clean Power Alliance with other countries aimed at accelerating the transition and unlocking private capital.

Starmer confirmed that the Government was inheriting the £11.6bn commitment from the previous government between 2021 and 2026 for spending on international climate financing.

A Capital Market Mechanism, set up by the Climate Investment Funds, which will issue investment-grade bonds on the London Stock Exchange and is expected to direct as much as $75bn in climate capital for developing countries over the next decade.

From its election manifesto, the Government has launched its clean industry bonus, aimed at incentivising offshore wind developers to build domestic supply chains, creating jobs, upskilling and broadening the UK’s green economy.

As with most things, it is easier to set targets and ambitions than to follow through with them. With the net zero consensus that was prevalent in parliament over the past decade or so fraying, it is now the work of this government to follow through with their actions and ensure that they can bring the British public along with them through wider job support and investment.

COP’s Main Announcements

COP29 had a remit to secure funding for the course correction of climate action, ensuring that the world holds emissions to a level in which global temperatures rise at most 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels. With countries’ NDCs due in February 2025, COP29 was aimed at ensuring there was financing in place to allow developing countries to deliver on their ambitions.

New Collective Quantified Goal

In the last hours of the summit, the NCQG was finally agreed, with developed countries set to pay the rest of the world $300bn per year by 2035 to help overcome the adverse effects of climate change.

This level was criticised across the world as a failed response given that accepted figures for financing adaptation and resilience are in the trillions of dollars, but still represents an increase from the previous commitment for wealthy nations to provide $100bn each year to the global south for adaptation and mitigation, first made in 2009 and delivered in full in 2022.

It is important to note that the $300bn is outlined in the official document as a goal and does not enshrine steps to achieve $1.3trn annually of climate financing by 2035, which will have to come from a range of stakeholders including private investors and further financing streams. Stakeholders will aim to pile the pressure on the Baku to Belém roadmap to deliver the trillions of dollars of funding needed by the 2030s to deliver tangible benefits across the world.

Carbon Markets

COP29 also reached agreement on carbon markets – which several previous COPs had not been able to achieve. First designated under the Paris Agreement, countries have agreed on the final points on setting out how carbon markets will operate across country-to-country trading and a centralised carbon crediting mechanism.

But whilst the progress is welcome, given it has taken nearly a decade to achieve this, significant shortcomings remain, particularly with regards to transparency and complexity.

What Next?

COP29 will forever be remembered as the ‘finance COP’, where ultimately the focus was on mobilising resources to support developing countries and those most vulnerable to climate change. Whilst negotiations flirted with disaster and the outcome left satisfied few, COP29 also saw countries including the UK make commitments that demonstrated leadership on these issues, whilst the large presence of the private sector alongside civil society at the summit showed that the green economy is here to stay and can only grow.

Ahead of COP30, set to take place in Belém, Brazil, countries will have to publish the next round of NDCs. Given the dissatisfaction with the NCQG sum, we may see countries choose sager NDCs that do not match the ambition required to reach at most 1.5°C of global temperature rise and will instead focus on domestic development and protections against climate change. COP30 will also take place at a time of fraught geopolitical tensions and elections showcasing a move away from multilateral climate action.

As the UK looks to continue its ambitions for global leadership in climate change, the role of industry and technology is set to grow. It is important that the Government is actively engaging with and listening to the private sector on how emissions can be reduced whilst ensuring continued economic growth and prosperity across the country. techUK and its members stand ready to ensure that legislation and regulations deliver true change and do not stifle the innovations and technologies needed to push the UK towards its net zero future.

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By 2030, digital technology can cut global emissions by 15%. Cloud computing, 5G, AI and IoT have the potential to support dramatic reductions in carbon emissions in sectors such as transport, agriculture, and manufacturing. techUK is working to foster the right policy framework and leadership so we can all play our part. For more information on how techUK can support you, please visit our Climate Action Hub and click ‘contact us’.

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