2024 saw COPs for both climate and biodiversity take place, on different sides of the globe: 

COP16, the UN biodiversity conference: took place in Cali, Colombia, from the 21st October – 1st November 

COP29, the UN climate change convention: took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11th – 22nd November 

Both saw global leaders and delegates from around the world gather together to take stock of the progress (or lack thereof) made on tackling the climate and nature crises, and to make pledges for the immediate future .  

Climate COPs happen every year, and biodiversity COPs every other year. They are the setting for such vital climate moments as the Paris Agreement of 2015, which opened a new international climate regime to limit global temperature increase to 1.5°C, underpinned by trust between States that they would all deliver on this pledge. And 2022’s CBD COP saw the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) adopted, an agreement that aimed to set a global strategy for conserving and sustainably drawing on the world’s biological diversity. 

However, progress on both reversing the decline of biological diversity and limiting global temperature rise have been slower than we need it to be. The agreements made at previous COPs are meaningless without being enforced and enacted.  

This is why we need to see these frameworks translated into binding national laws to ensure that countries’ international commitments are fulfilled. ClientEarth sent a small delegation to both COP16 and COP29, to keep an eye on the negotiations and report back on progress made.  

You’ll find everything you need to know about both below. 

What happened at COP29?

COP29 concluded in Baku in November. There was a deal, but what did that deal look like, and what needs to happen next? 

The main objective of 2024's COP was to deliver a new finance goal to support developing countries to reduce their emissions and adapt to the climate crisis, and to pave the way to countries’ new climate pledges expected in 2025. 

What happened on finance? COP29 in Baku was widely seen as the climate finance COP – and whilst it did (eventually) close with a deal on the New Collective Quantified Goal, this figure remains insufficient to meet the needs of those countries most vulnerable to climate change. The deal recognised an annual $1.3tn was needed, but only confirmed $300bn per year by 2035 from developed countries. It means tripling public finance to developing countries from the goal of $100bn per year from 2020, and also sets out efforts for all actors to work together to scale up finance to developing countries from public and private sources. 

What was left for later? Last year, we celebrated the historic pledge from countries at COP28 to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels. But this time, the plan to turn this ambition into action was pushed back to the next COP to be hosted in Brazil. 

What can still bring hope? Despite the frustrations shared at the end of the COP on these two critical priorities, there was some limited progress. Mexico, Latin America’s second-largest emitter, announced in the second week that it will set a target to reach net zero by 2050. 25 countries and the EU announced plans to include a pledge for ‘no new unabated coal power’ in their next climate plans (NDCs). At G20 in Brazil during the second week of COP29, the UK launched the Global Clean Power Alliance, with members including Brazil, Australia, Barbados, Germany, and the African Union to work together to reach the global goal of tripling renewable energy capacity and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. More than 30 countries representing nearly 50 per cent of global methane emissions signed up to a new declaration to set targets in future NDCs on reducing methane from organic waste. 

What needs to happen next? Countries are expected to submit their new climate pledges next year. The UK, Brazil and the UAE released their national climate plans at COP29. The outcome at COP29 ‘welcomes with appreciation the efforts of Parties to 'communicate new nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs). The text also ‘encourages Parties to come forward in their next nationally determined contributions with ambitious, economy-wide emission reduction targets covering all greenhouse gases, sectors and categories, and aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5C, as informed by the latest science, in the light of different national circumstances’. At ClientEarth, we are calling on countries translate those ambitions into the next generation of Framework Climate Laws 

2025 will be a critical year to keep the promise of a global warming well below 2C alive and avoid dangerous tipping points for people and the environment.   

All eyes now are on the hearings of the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, due to start in a few days. It will determine what states are required to do under international law, to prevent climate-related harm to present and future generations, as well as the legal consequences for having caused significant harm.