COP29 has been a hot topic over the past few months, especially in climate news – but do you know why? Read on to find the answers to all your burning questions, including: What is ‘COP’? What happened at COP29? Who was conspicuously missing? And why was it all so controversial?
COP stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’, an annual discussion of actions and initiatives to combat climate change. COP is attended by the countries that signed the UNFCC (‘United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’) in 1992, in which they committed to avoid any behaviours which could lead to dangerous climate change. COP29 was so named as it was the 29th meeting. A rotating location schedule determines where-abouts in the world the conference will be held; last year, COP took place in Azerbaijan, in Eastern Europe – strike one for controversial decisions, as we will explore.
[COP is] an annual discussion of actions and initiatives to combat climate change.
I got an exclusive inside perspective when I interviewed one of University of Exeter’s own COP29 online delegates, Isabella Purves. Isabella is Co-President of ‘Be the Change’ (the sustainability and environment society on campus), a Circular Economy Intern with the University, and a final-year geography student. From what I can gather, she is an oracle of all things green, which makes her the perfect person to speak to about the climate conference.
In this article, we cover:
- Links between COP29 and the University of Exeter
- Successes and failures of COP29
- COP controversies
- Applying to become a COP online delegate
COP29 and the University of Exeter
The University of Exeter itself had quite a significant involvement in COP29, as Isabella explained: “the university’s involved in a real range of things, which is probably quite unsurprising due to its rep’ and also the fact that it’s aiming to be net-zero by 2030, and it’s quite world leading in general in this kind of research.”
“the university’s involved in a real range of things, which is probably quite unsurprising due to its rep’ and also the fact that it’s aiming to be net-zero by 2030…”
Isabella Purves, UoE student and COP29 online delegate
As Isabella mentioned, the University of Exeter is home to the five most prominent climate scientists in the UK; she explicitly referenced Professor Steven Sitch who attended COP29 last year, as well as Professor Pierre Friedlingstein who attended COP28 the year before, who each contribute to some of the biggest reports on environment and sustainability.
Isabella also noted that University of Exeter academic Dr Mike O’Sullivan is a co-author of the Global Carbon Budget, which “is basically assessing how much carbon we can continue to emit before we tip over that 1.5° barrier”, and was talking about how fossil fuels are showing no signs of peaking. As a result, COP targets which should be narrowing keep on extending.
Successes and Failures of COP29
Having also been an online delegate for COP28 the previous year, Isabella was surprised how similar the conversations of COP29 were, acknowledging “Obviously, there can only be so much progress in one year, but it did feel like a lot of repetition and perhaps not much actually being made on those commitments.”
One positive aspect of COP29 was agreement on the loss and damage fund for developing countries, which Isabella stated “was a really essential thing because we basically need to start narrowing and actually acting on commitments rather than talking about them.” This focus on action over words is clearly a crucial point in the impact of COP. Isabella remarked that, as opposed to the main headline of COP28 when “people agreed that fossil fuels needed to be phased out to keep that 1.5°C target”, COP29 had “a more practical conclusion.”
The most crucial progress made in COP29, Isabella asserted, was climate finance, especially “financing the green transition” in developing countries that are more vulnerable to climate change. This denotes positive progress towards a green, just, transition.
The climate finance agreement was $300 billion for 2035, which seems like a huge amount. However, Isabella countered this, pointing out that several delegates actually walked out :”There was a big protest in kind of the 11th hour because before the amount was around half of that. So it does kind of show that there has been quite, quite consistently a prioritisation of richer larger countries over the smaller ones.”
The climate finance agreement was $300 billion for 2035, which seems like a huge amount. However, Isabella countered this, pointing out that several delegates actually walked out…
She commented “I think it was only the prospects of failure for the first time at COP that actually led to that amount being increased. But it needs to be more like 1 trillion by 2035 rather than 300 billion so [there’s] a big way to go, but the carbon credit trading rules were also approved also within climate finance and that kind of incentivizes a reduction of emissions.”
However, she reflected that “it was also a bit strange though, because the top leaders of the 13 most polluting countries didn’t appear, so kind of – how effective can agendas be when those thirteen countries aren’t there?”
World Leaders at COP29
“the top leaders of the 13 most polluting countries didn’t appear”
Isabella Purves, UoE student and COP29 online delegate
Keir Starmer made some declarations, including the announcement of a new UK target for 81% of carbon emissions being cut by 2035. However, many world leaders from major economies simply skipped this year’s climate change summit – including U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Isabella remarked on this disappointing turnout, “when you’re not actually present at the conference, it does kind of show how you prioritise it.”
When I mentioned the recent US election and the prospective impact that Trump’s presidency will have on the environment, Isabella initially agreed that it probably won’t be anything good: “He wants to pull out of the Paris Agreement again, so everyone’s kind of holding their breath at the moment.”
She continued, “I’d say that’s actually quite a big headline at the moment because obviously the geopolitical geopolitics between China and the USA aren’t ideal… So the fact that Trump is going to take a step back – China’s actually taking quite a big step forward with COP29, and they were a lot more receptive with the talks”.
Does COP actually work?
Another issue which Isabella and I delved into is that of the COP process itself – how far can COP actually impact issues of environment and sustainability?
This is where things really get interesting, as Isabella argued that COP isn’t fit for purpose because it’s predicated on the assumption that we’ll use technology that doesn’t yet exist to do carbon removal. She explained that “the point of Paris assumed that we would have technologies that could remove carbon from the atmosphere and that we were allowed some overshoot. So we would overshoot, then we would go back. But that technology doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist now. It won’t exist in a year, and the fact that all our agreements are assuming that we can overshoot and then go back is quite foolish.”
This assumption also then enables what Isabella called this “business as usual” mindset, where we can continue to consume the way we have, and then just resolve it with a little technological fix – which, as Isabella pointed out, is neither rational, practical, nor sustainable – rather than making the drastic system changes that we truly need. This is especially true as 2024 showed that we have already reached the 1.5°C limit of global warming; there is no more wriggle room.
“[The Paris Agreement assumed that] we would overshoot, then we would go back. But that technology doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist now. It won’t exist in a year, and the fact that all our agreements are assuming that we can overshoot and then go back is quite foolish.”
Isabella Purves, UoE student and COP29 online delegate
Isabella also mentioned that “a lot of countries and companies at the moment are quietly ditching targets they don’t really want to work to. So a lot of companies and countries had aims for 2030, and now that they know they won’t be able to reach them, they’re just silently removing them from their business pages.” This reduction of effort can often be obscured by the wider climate conversation.
One of the huge benefits of COP is that it publicises climate activism that occurs across the whole year, on sites such as LinkedIn, for example, which can really amplify things that are already happening.
However, the COP process also has its downfalls. For example, Isabella noted that “the problem with COP and other global conferences is they really globalise issues to the point where people think, oh, that has nothing to do with me. For example, it’s China’s fault. They’re the biggest emitter. I can’t do anything. And that kind of learned sense of helplessness doesn’t really lead to kind of that behavioural change that we need… So I’d say COP, in a way, detaches people from the issue, and they fail to see how their own lives impact the state we’re in.”
COP29 Controversies
Many viewed the decision for COP 29 to be hosted in Azerbaijan as controversial due to its economic reliance on the fossil fuel industry and the fact that is it’s an authoritarian state with extensive corruption and a poor record of human rights. I was interested to learn Isabella’s perspective on these such controversies, and so asked:
Do you think this controversy around the location of COP is a valid point of discussion in the fight against climate change?
Her reply: “I absolutely do. I think that true sustainability isn’t just for the environment, is also economically and socially. And I think what you produce is really limited by the nation you choose. “
“true sustainability isn’t just for the environment, is also economically and socially. And I think what you produce is really limited by the nation you choose.“
Isabella Purves, UoE student and COP29 online delegate
She especially noted an investigation done by the BBC which found some countries’ officials using their position at COP to make oil deals, which also happened in COP28 in Dubai. As Isabella remarks, that’s “twice in a year now, the talks have been held at an oil producing nation – because oil and gas actually makes up over 50% of Azerbaijan’s economy. So it’s a huge conflict of interest to try and reduce oil and gas usage and then kind of plunk yourself in a country that hugely relies on that for their economy and doesn’t have a clear way out. Almost like this will disadvantage Azerbaijan, at least in the short term.”
Isabella deemed the decision to hold COP29 in Azerbaijan “short-sighted” due to its “clear conflict of interest” alongside other issues of human rights and political corruption, which “really does hinder progress, especially if there’s no kind of pressure from the country for people to make agreements.”
“twice in a year now, the talks have been held at an oil producing nation – because oil and gas actually makes up over 50% of Azerbaijan’s economy. So it’s a huge conflict of interest”
Isabella Purves, UoE student and COP29 online delegate
She acknowledges that there are other considerations and difficulties when choosing the location for the annual climate conference, clarifying that it shouldn’t just be wealthier countries who hold it, and that smaller nations often don’t have the capabilities to hold COP – “But I feel like there’s a middle path that doesn’t lead to this [conflict of interest].”
How can you apply to be a COP online delegate?
Last year’s University of Exeter COP29 online student delegation was coordinated by doctoral researcher, Morin Akeredolu-Ale. The limited delegate passes were allocated through a process of applications and blind judging. The applications are open to everyone, as Isabella said, and “because COP is a two-week-long conference, you’ve got to put when you’re available to make sure it’s not just one day out those 14.” Giving more detail on the application process, Isabella described: “I also had to do an overview of my current involvement with sustainability and the environment and why I was interested in the role, and I also had to explain in detail how I would raise the profile of the university’s presence at COP as a result of my participation. So that included outlining how I’d use social media channels, and also things like this interview.”
What next?
This year’s climate conference, COP30 is set to be held in Belém do Pará in northern Brazil – the heart of the Amazon, and the gateway to the Amazon river. The conference will take place in November 2025, and the pressure is on for world leaders to step up as the climate crisis reaches critical levels. The priority is to deliver on promises already made, as well as accelerating action, implementing bold new plans to transition societies away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energies, as we fight to save our planet.
