World leaders gather in Baku for pre-COP29 meeting
Ahead of the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, global leaders gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the pre-COP meeting from 10–11 October.
The session, titled Enhance Ambition and Enable Action, aimed to progress key negotiations before the main summit in November. The event is focused on limiting global warming to 1.5°C, as per the 2015 Paris Agreement.
A key priority at the pre-COP meeting was setting a new global climate finance goal, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), to surpass the previous target of $100 billion annually for developing countries.
In 2022, developed nations surpassed the initial goal, contributing $115.9 billion in climate finance. COP29 President-designate Mukhtar Babayev called for a more ambitious financial target to support developing and small island states.
Other priorities include advancing work on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which governs international carbon markets, and operationalising the Loss and Damage fund to assist vulnerable nations. UN climate officials, including Simon Stiell and Amina J Mohammed, emphasized the importance of finalising financial commitments and increasing climate finance contributions.
Image: Global Leaders Gather to Advance Climate Negotiations Before COP29, Credit: Aziz Karimov/Getty Images