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The COP29 Presidency is hosting global climate leaders, government officials, constituencies, and delegates at Pre-COP in Baku, Azerbaijan, to discuss key environmental issues facing the planet.

The 3-day Pre-COP meeting, which started Oct. 10, provides an important platform for parties to advance climate negotiations ahead of the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, set to take place in November.

Pre-COP discussions are focusing on making progress on key priorities before COP29, including climate finance, the New Collective Quantified Goal, mitigation, adaptation, and supporting vulnerable communities, according to a press release issued by the organizers.

In an address delivered on his behalf by COP29 president-designate Mukhtar Babayev, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan emphasized the importance of agreeing an NCQG at COP29 that “meets the needs of the developing, least developed and small island developing states” and represents a “substantial increase” over the prior goal.

Aliyev said reaching this goal would require the collaboration of the international community. “Neither Azerbaijan in its capacity of the COP29 Presidency, nor any other state, can take decisions on behalf of others.

“Our role is to provide the platform for facilitating negotiations, which we believe we have been fulfilling impartially,” he said.

In his own address at the opening ceremony, Babayev recognized the progress made, while also calling for participants to act with urgency and use the Pre-COP meeting to build the foundation for a successful outcome at COP29.

“We are building bridges and momentum, but we need much more,” said Babayev. “We make progress when we come together, put differences aside, and engage in open and honest dialogue.”

Setting out clear goals for each priority, he identified the need to “take seriously the responsibility for identifying a number over a timeframe and come forward with solutions.

“Qualitative elements of the goal such as transparency and accessibility are also essential to ensuring that the goal is both fair and ambitious.”

Babayev also outlined goals for each of the other top negotiating priorities, including concluding work on Article 6 as a much-needed priority “crucial for directing financial and technical resources.”

The aim was to turn pledges into signed contributor agreements to the fund for responding to loss and damage, and attracting “significantly greater contributions” to all funds.

This includes the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, and responding to the call of the UAE Consensus to transition away from fossil fuels in a just and orderly manner.

Pre-COP is the latest milestone in Azerbaijan’s preparations for COP29, which will be a key moment in the global effort to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and build resilience to climate impacts.

In the lead up to Pre-COP, the COP29 Presidency also convened an informal Heads of Delegation meeting on Oct. 8 in Baku, followed by the formal High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on the NCQG on Oct. 9.

Another Heads of Delegation meeting is scheduled for Oct. 12.

“COP29 will be a defining test for both the Paris Agreement and for multilateralism,” stated Babayev.

“The world is watching, and history will judge us on the outcomes we achieve. Success or failure at COP29 will be collective and each of us has a role to play. We must all offer the best of ourselves.”
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