What Is COP29 Focused On And What Do Businesses Need To Know?

With COP16, the 16th UN Biodiversity Conference about to come to a close in Columbia, attention is now turning to COP29, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The global conference – which takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11-22 November 2024 – will focus the world's attention on tackling the climate change crisis through developing ways to enhance ambition and enable action.

Building on the work of preceding COPs that have seen the establishment of a 'Loss and Damage Fund' and other pledges of climate finance support, this year's conference is expected to keep finance high on the agenda. Many are calling COP29 "the finance COP” in line with the aim of 'enabling action' – believing this coming together of the parties presents an opportunity to align climate finance contributions with estimated global needs. But what might the next steps look like to opening up access to finance –