By Laura Tierney, Vice President, International Programs, BCSE

Last month, BCSE led a delegation of nearly 30 U.S. businesses and clean energy trade organizations to the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP 29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 – 24. As BCSE’s delegation shared private sector solutions to address the global challenge of climate change mitigation and adaptation, country negotiators worked to find compromise on difficult financial questions.

COP 29 concluded with the delivery of a new collective goal for international climate finance and the final rulebook for UN-backed international carbon markets. The negotiating parties did not advance implementation of the energy transition goals of last year’s Global Stocktake (GST).

Here are BCSE’s top three takeaways on the COP 29 outcome:

 

The COP 29 agreement on increased public climate finance recognizes a clear need for private sector investment and creates space for even greater public-private action.

Upon the COP’s conclusion, countries agreed to mobilize $300 billion of international public climate finance by 2035 – and to identify a pathway toward identifying sources to deliver up to $1.3 trillion.

 This new goal can be reached by mobilizing all finance sources and utilizing different types of funding tools, such as carbon markets, to accelerate the clean energy transition in more countries and communities. In addition to public finance, governments will need to deploy a mix of policy tools to leverage the true power of private sector investment.

Business must also be involved early and often in discussions that shape the policy, market, and legal environments that will enable and accelerate private sector investment in the energy transition. Partnership with the private sector can help accelerate progress of the clean energy transition where it is most needed in developing countries.

Carbon markets will help deliver essential finance flows to developing countries as they build their own sustainable and decarbonized economies. The ability to utilize carbon markets will also help corporations advance toward their own climate targets and decarbonize their operations and supply chains. With the rulebook now finalized, countries and companies can move forward to deploy emissions reduction solutions and make market improvements as needed.