COP29- A student perspective

Oliver Manley, a first year student in BSc (Hons) Climate, Sustainability and Environmental Management here at Sheffield Hallam, provides his views on recent climate talks

In November 2024 we saw the 29th United Nations climate change conference held in Baku, Azerbaijan. This is where representatives of the 193 member states come together to discuss and attempt to act on climate change. Every year there is controversy surrounding this event and this year was no exception, so now that it is all wrapped up, I decided to bring my thoughts together in this blog.

A lot happened in the 12 days of the summit, but a few things stuck out more than others. A huge agreement was made to pledge $300 billion annually by 2035 to support developing countries to address climate change. This marks a massive improvement, as it triples the goal that was set in 2009.

Another massive step in the right direction is for the first time ever, COP29 has a call for countries to transition away from fossil fuels, which as stupid as it sounds has never previously been included and is a huge leap in global climate policy. There was also a lot of talk on investing in renewables such as solar & wind power, which ties into the global transition away from fossil fuels. Many countries pledged to increase their clean energy targets, which is a great way of decreasing global carbon emissions.

However, of course, these positives don’t come without some downsides. For example, many developing nations expressed that the $300 billion amount pledged is insufficient to meet the escalating challenges posed by climate change. While this does sound like a lot of money, the actual figure estimated to be able to properly deal with the climate crisis will be in the trillions by 2030- meaning this amount falls short by a substantial amount.

Other negatives of COP29 included its organization; some attendees called it a poor excuse for an international conference, with many countries sending lower-level representatives and in some cases not attending at all. All this mixed with the fact it was held in Azerbaijan, a country in the top 25 largest oil producers globally - which makes you question how seriously climate change is being taken. A final thing is while there was “commitment” to phasing out fossil fuels, the conference did not establish specific steps for doing so, or for expanding renewables, which is a missed opportunity.

While this may seem like a somewhat negative view on this conference, it is a massive step compared to what has been discussed and achieved in past years, and the more the word gets out about the issue of the global climate crisis and the more people talk about how big it really is, the more governments will pay attention and get things done.

As a student studying a course which is very relevant to this issue, I am happy to see COP getting the coverage it is. I do believe that we as a planet are moving in the right direction to reverse the impacts of climate change – even if a lot more needs to be done.