The temperature records have been soaring. We are witnessing extreme events, across the world having a profound impact on lives and livelihoods of millions of people. From Spain to France, Afghanistan to Bangladesh and India to Nepal flash flooding and torrential rains in recent times have played havoc.

Scientists are unequivocal about the dangers of magnifying the impacts of climate change with every incremental change of temperature.

The key agenda for the UNFCCC CoP29 at Baku, which began on Monday, is to define a way forward on climate finance through a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to mitigation and Loss and Damage (L&D).

Factoring the priorities of the developing countries, parties will be working to agree on a more ambitious climate finance goal ahead of the 2025 deadline set to the adoption of Paris agreement. The commitment by developed countries to jointly mobilize $100 billion by 2020 has not seen the light so far.

Given this track record there is a trust deficit among the developing countries which may impinge upon the negotiations and setting new targets at Baku.

Agreements on NCQG is critical not only to restore trust but also essential to informing the preparation of the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under Paris agreement, which are due in 2025. For the developing countries to ramp up their ambitions and roll out their national climate action plans financial support is key.

To keep up the momentum on some of the positive developments like the augmentation of renewable energy capacity and inclusion of language on fossil fuel at COP 28 in Dubai, the focus on mitigation (of greenhouse gas emissions) should remain intact.

Here again, capacity development, technology transfer and more importantly financial support from developed countries holds the key to move forward the agenda set last year in Dubai. Hopefully, the discussions in Baku will help streamline the process through the discussions on the Mitigation Work Program and help build guidance for the next round of NDCs. The expectation is that the Baku negotiations should lead to commitments by countries to move way from fossil fuels and work towards achieving the 1.5 C goal in the next five years.

Baku will not only provide an opportunity to review the Warsaw mechanism on Loss and Damage (L&D) but also help in developing guidance on the early operationalizing of Santiago Network, which aims to catalyse technical assistance on L&D.

The L&D fund’s first report will also be scrutinized to take stock of what worked and what didn’t. Careful considerations are needed not to make L&D as another project-based mechanism where accessing the funds is an issue. What will be more effective is to create a mechanism to hasten the delivery of support including financial means to countries affected by L&D.

Other Issues

There are bunch of other issues that should be prioritized, especially (i) examination of the indicators developed by thematic experts to measure progress on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) (ii) advancing the discussions on just transition, agriculture and review of gender action plan and (iii) sharing insights from the first global stock take. CoP 29 is happening at a time when world order is disrupted with two major ongoing wars. There are many political uncertainties, ifs and buts in translating the outcomes of CoP 29 to a viable action agenda.

Nevertheless, we can’t underscore the importance of the meeting and should remain hopeful that CoP 29 will deliver on a new, workable climate finance goal keeping in mind the big milestone of the next round of NDCs due in 2025.

Having said that, it is also imperative for countries to take action on their own using all the resources at their disposal to achieve the 1.5 C goal and making the world a better place to live.

The writer is Director, Climate Resilience Practice, World Resources Institute (WRI India). Views expressed are personal