COP29 Dispatch - November 20, 2024

Welcome! Today’s themes are urbanization, transportation, and tourism.

Transportation accounts for 16.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 28% of U.S. emissions. Buildings account for about 40% of global greenhouse emissions, and roughly 35% of U.S. emissions. Meanwhile, the tourism industry both contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and is vulnerable to their climate impacts. In line with today’s themes, U.S. Center events were abuzz with solutions for decarbonizing the transportation and building sectors, while the First Ministerial Meeting on Enhanced Climate Action in Tourism released the COP29 Declaration on Enhanced Action in Tourism.

EESI held its second press conference presenting U.S. perspectives from COP29. Panelists discussed agricultural conservation efforts, solutions to ocean acidification, and the role of U.S. states in global climate action.

Over in Brazil, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged G20 leaders to encourage their teams in Baku to cooperate: “I appeal to the sense of responsibility of all the countries around this table to help ensure that COP29 will be a success.” Success largely boils down to an agreement on the new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG), which will lay the groundwork for more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

If you are in Baku, catch up with EESI President Daniel Bresette and Policy Director Anna McGinn! To connect, email Anna at amcginn@eesi.org.

Missed yesterday’s edition? Check it out here. We are also compiling key COP29 announcements throughout the conference—check back for updates.

Getting lost in the COP lingo? Check out EESI's glossary of terms and other helpful guides in the Resources section! Looking for more information? Reach out to Anna at amcginn@eesi.org.

Key Takeaways for Congress

• The COP29 presidency planned to release certain negotiation draft texts at midnight AZT. A draft text on Article 6 on carbon markets was released Wednesday morning.
• The U.S. Department of Transportation released its Climate Strategies that Work Playbook.
• The COP29 presidency released the COP29 Declaration on Enhanced Action in Tourism, which more than 50 countries have signed.

Negotiations

Stocktaking plenary: At mid-day Wednesday in Baku, the COP29 presidency provided an update on the status of the negotiations, which primarily focused on the ministerial pairs leading different areas of discussion:

• Ministers from Australia and Egypt on NCQG: The ministers shared that developing countries are still focused on the $1.3 trillion figure for the amount of finance that needs to be mobilized per year. They shared that other numbers under consideration are $900 billion, $600 billion, $440 billion, and the floor set by the Paris Agreement of $100 billion. They highlighted that the goal needs to be both ambitious and achievable. Negotiations are still very much underway.
• Ministers from Norway and South Africa on mitigation: During consultation with countries, the ministers reviewed topics like the political messages that countries would like to send on mitigation at this COP, and where across the agenda items those messages should be housed.
• Ministers from Costa Rica and Ireland on adaptation: Some of the challenging areas under discussion concern the indicators being developed under the global goal on adaptation. Primarily, there is disagreement on whether there should be indicators related to means of implementation, including finance. There are also ongoing negotiations about defining transformational adaptation.
• Ministers from New Zealand and Singapore on Article 6: A draft text on the implementation of Article 6 on carbon markets was released in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Baku. The ministers reported a constructive atmosphere.

Path forward: Ministers from Brazil and the UK held consultations with countries on “delivering high ambition and a balanced package” over the course of Wednesday. In terms of a path forward, the COP29 presidency gave ministers a 5:00 p.m. AZT deadline to turn in proposals. The presidency planned to turn around text for further review by countries around midnight AZT (3:00 p.m. EST Wednesday) (not yet available at the time of writing this newsletter) on some issues and plans to turn around text for the others by 7:00 a.m. AZT on Thursday. When draft texts are made available to the public, you can find them here. For additional updates on the negotiations, see the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s daily report (detailed summary) and highlights (quick overview) posted each morning of COP.

• EESI briefing: What’s on the Table for the Negotiations

U.S. Updates

Pledge update: At the G20 Summit in Brazil, the United States announced a $325 million contribution to the Clean Technology Fund, which supports clean energy supply chains in eligible emerging markets and developing economies.

Transportation playbook: Today, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Climate Change Research and Technology Program Director Gretchen Goldman released the agency’s new Climate Strategies that Work Playbook. Written specifically for transportation professionals and subnational and industry leaders, the playbook offers 27 effective, readily deployable strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. The strategies, released on a rolling basis, starting today, comprise a wide suite of options, from policy interventions and technological solutions to technical assistance resources and funding opportunities.

• EESI Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO panel: Sustainable Transportation

Resilient infrastructure: FEMA Assistant Administrator for Resilience Strategy Samantha Medlock spoke at the Resilient Infrastructure Pavilion, underscoring the importance of traditional ecological knowledge. She stated that there are more missed opportunities on this front than good examples in the United States. She also linked adaptation to mitigation, saying that as governments, the private sector, and communities undertake infrastructure projects, they need to think about resilience to climate impacts as well as clean energy and energy storage opportunities. As Assistant Administrator Medlock stated, “an integrated approach is a more efficient approach.”

Steel yourself for cleaner procurement: The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) held an event at the U.S. Center to spotlight federal efforts on green public procurement. CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory spoke about the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages the buying power of the U.S. government to facilitate the use of cleaner, domestically produced construction materials in federally funded building projects. The panel focused on a new partnership between the Net-Zero Government Initiative, the First Movers Coalition, and the Industrial Deep Decarbonization Initiative. Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) David Turk expressed that whole-of-society strategies—with particular emphasis on the private sector—are more effective than top-down strategies, naming the Pathways to Commercial Liftoff reports as an example.

• EESI article: “Achieving Sustainability in the Built Environment, Brick by Brick”

Billion-dollar disasters: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Rick Spinrad kicked off a U.S. Center event on disaster-resilient infrastructure with a startling statistic: as of November 1, the United States has experienced 24 weather and climate disaster events in 2024, each of which resulted in losses exceeding $1 billion. Spinrad then touted NOAA’s new Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, which is applying $575 million in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding to create data-informed disaster risk reduction solutions.

• EESI briefing: The National Security – Climate Adaptation Nexus

These cities are going places: DOT hosted a U.S. Center event to present subnational actions for transportation decarbonization. Travis County, Texas, Commissioner Brigid Shea highlighted her county’s ambitious remote work program, borne out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, which aims to have 7% of eligible employees working remotely on a permanent basis, has already resulted in greenhouse gas reductions. Travis County is also transitioning its vehicle fleets to electric or hybrid. Mayor Minna Arve of Turku, Finland, shared that her city’s decarbonization initiatives have already reduced transportation emissions by 30%. These include a strong and comprehensive public transportation system, tax benefits for employees who bike to work, and providing bus or rail ticket fare with the purchase of movie or sports tickets.

Food and farmer security: At the “Agriculture as a Solution to Global Food Security and Climate Change” side event, farmers and ranchers underscored the importance of their sustainability work and the need to focus on output in terms of nutrition and food security. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack highlighted the role of USDA programs in contributing to food security and farmer support for climate-smart programs. In 2022, 50% of farmers made no money, while 40% needed off-farm income to keep their farm, Vilsack said, proving the importance of incentives for climate-smart practices.

• EESI briefing: Climate-Smart Research for the Farms of the Future

Equitable climate action is in the house: A U.S. Center event organized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the International Code Council explored the role of affordable housing in meeting emission reduction and climate resilience goals. Funding from the IRA was highlighted as a recent win for decarbonizing the housing sector. This includes investment in research and development projects like DOE’s Affordable Home Energy Shot. Panelists also discussed building codes, community collaboration, and alternatives to informal settlements for homeless populations as important aspects of an equitable and decarbonized housing market.

• EESI briefing: Energy Earthshots: The Frontier of Climate Innovation

Around the World

Ministerial remarks (cont.): Ministers from more than 40 countries continued giving formal remarks on Wednesday. Notable statements include those from:

• France | Climate Ambassador Kevin Magron said that as negotiations continue, “we must raise ourselves to the expectations of populations who are awaiting solutions to the dramatic consequences of climate change …. We count on everybody’s responsibility and spirit of compromise to overcome the [negotiation] deadlocks in the coming days.”
• Palestine | Chairperson of the Environmental Quality Authority Nisreen T.H. Tamimi said that the use of 80,000 tons of Israeli explosives over the past year has led not only to mass death but also to ecocide. She cited World Bank and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) findings of destroyed agricultural land and sanitation systems, more than 43 million tons of rubble contaminated with hazardous material and permanent organic pollutants, pollution of 90% of water resources, and about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
• St. Lucia | Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology, and Vocational Training Parliamentary Secretary Pauline Antoine-Prospere discussed Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, which left a “trail of destruction” across St. Lucia’s homes, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, and fisheries in July. These storms undermine developmental gains, as national infrastructure built with “significant” multilateral loans are destroyed before St. Lucia can pay off the debt.
• Ukraine | Minister of Environmental Protection and National Resources Svitlana Hrynchuck reported that while Russian warfare has destroyed three million hectares of Ukrainian forests and reduced their greenhouse gas absorption potential by 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide, Ukraine has already undertaken afforestation and reforestation efforts.

Cities at the heart of climate action: The third Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change kicked off a day of intense focus on buildings, mobility, and public health. UN-Habitat Executive Director Anaclaudia Rossbach explained that more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, with another two billion expected to move to urban areas in the coming decades. This is in addition to the one billion people living in informal settlements on city outskirts. Special Advisor to the Secretary-General Selwin Hart added that half of these city dwellers could be at risk of health impacts from extreme heat by 2050. City leaders, Hart noted, can help advance climate solutions to mitigate emissions and improve urban resilience by working with national governments to ensure NDCs are ambitious, continuing to lead by example, and building partnerships within and across borders.

Low-carbon building materials, defined: German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) unveiled official international definitions for “low-carbon cement” and “low-carbon concrete.” According to GCCA, establishing these definitions will make it easier for organizations to procure low-carbon cement and concrete, which will aid in decarbonization. The concrete and cement sector contributes to 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, highlighting the importance of low-carbon efforts.

Tackling tourism: COP29 UN Climate Change High-level Champion Nigar Arpadarai urged countries to endorse the COP29 Declaration on Enhanced Action in Tourism, which was announced today at the First Ministerial Meeting on Enhanced Climate Action in Tourism. More than 50 countries have signed on so far. COP29 marks the first COP in which tourism was included in the Action Agenda, according to Zoritsa Urosevic, executive director of UN Tourism.

Buildings are a climate “sleeping giant”: If the built environment accounts for about 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions, then buildings represent an equal amount of potential reductions. This opportunity, represented by energy efficiency, water efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable materials, was the topic of a high-level roundtable, “Green Construction and Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Climate Resilience in Cities.” UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen praised the recent Declaration de Chaillot, which was signed by 70 countries committed to reducing building sector emissions. However, despite the fact that buildings are a “sleeping giant” of potential emission reductions, she noted that only 49 countries have standards for cooling equipment, and just 18% of NDCs include building sector targets. This progress gap is exacerbated by the fact that every week, the global footprint of buildings grows by an area equivalent to Paris.

• EESI briefing: Building Materials: From Production to Reuse

Indigenous perspectives on loss and damage: At a dialogue of loss and damage fund board members and Indigenous representatives, speakers underscored the importance of financing Indigenous people doing climate work, and making sure Indigenous people are heard prior to decision-making, rather than after. One speaker gave an illuminating example: we do not expect home repairs to be free, so why do we expect Indigenous people to steward and monitor the land for free? She emphasized that without finance going directly to Indigenous peoples’ communities and organizations, “continuous colonization” of Indigenous lands occurs.

Wildlife is key: At a side event on wildlife protection, NDCs, and food systems, speakers emphasized the key role of wildlife and biodiversity in countries’ climate plans. A speaker from Zimbabwe discussed the importance of building and supporting “coexistent landscapes” to help protect livelihoods dependent on biodiversity. “We call it taking care of your neighbor to take care of yourself,” she said. Meanwhile, another speaker called attention to Kenya’s strategy to grow community and private land conservancies from 11% of Kenya’s land to 20% of its land by 2030, noting the role of conserved land as a carbon sink.

By air, land, and sea: For the first time, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and International Maritime Organization gathered at a side event to discuss climate. ICAO Deputy Director for Environment Jane Hupe explained that aviation represents 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that international air travel is responsible for two-thirds of that share. She described the need for sustainable aviation fuels to meet a 2050 target of net-zero emissions and explained that international cooperation is essential for success because the 15,000 standards for international air aviation must apply globally.

• EESI issue brief: The Growth in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Commercial Aviation

Channeling water for mitigation: The Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), the Water Initiative for Net Zero, and the Stockholm International Water Institute co-hosted a side event on the water-energy nexus. Energy production overall is a water-intensive activity, and yet the intersection between water and climate is usually framed in the context of adaptation. According to AGWA Executive Director John Matthews, only 2% of mitigation investments are dedicated to water issues. Multiple speakers underlined that the next generation of NDCs should address water holistically, and that wastewater presents an opportunity for energy generation as well as methane emission reductions. EU Special Envoy for Climate and Environment Tony Agotha identified three areas of focus for water-based mitigation strategies: increasing water efficiency; fighting pollution, with an emphasis on the plastic pollution treaty; and nature-based solutions.

• EESI article: “Addressing America’s Water Crisis Could Also Cut Carbon Emissions”