WWF is warning that the next year could be decisive for the planet’s future, as the UN climate summit COP29 approaches in Baku, Azerbaijan.
With temperatures soaring to record levels and cataclysmic climate impacts wreaking havoc around the world, the need for urgent, transformative action to phase out fossil fuels, transform food systems and halt and reverse nature loss has never been greater.
COP29 comes at a pivotal moment, as countries are due to submit new national climate plans – Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – over the course of the next twelve months. The ambition of these plans will be crucial in driving the pace of climate action throughout the next five years. It may become impossible to prevent global warming exceeding 1.5°C without huge transformative leaps forward every year until 2030.
A significant uplift in climate finance will be essential to ensure this transformative action, and its benefits for people and nature, become a reality. At COP29, countries are set to negotiate a new climate finance goal – the New Collective Quantifiable Goal (NCQG). For a successful outcome, countries must ensure this new goal meets the mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage needs of developing countries.
Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF Global Climate and Energy Lead, and COP20 President, said: “This is a decisive year for climate action. COP29 must be the launchpad for urgent, transformative change. We have the solutions to the climate crisis available now, but without adequate finance, they can’t be deployed at the necessary speed and scale. We simply can’t afford to delay critical action any further. It’s time to invest in our future.”
“A new, ambitious climate finance target that meets the needs of developing countries is crucial. Without confidence in funding, developing countries can’t ramp up their climate commitments. After years of unmet promises, this summit must kickstart a new era for climate finance and build global trust.”
Alex Mason, Head of Climate & Energy at WWF EU, said: “The next five years are critical if we are to avoid runaway climate change and limit global warming to 1.5°C. As Commissioner-designate for climate Wopke Hoekstra said during his hearing before the European Parliament on Thursday, we should have embarked on the transition much earlier, but we waited for too long, didn’t do enough, and now we need to speed up. The European Union has a duty to show leadership on the world stage in these uncertain times.“
Mason continued: “EU leaders must recognise the EU’s huge responsibility for historical emissions, and actively support developing nations to cut their own emissions and combat the severe impacts of climate change. They should also champion talks on a global fossil fuel phase out, as transforming the energy sector is the quickest way to rapidly reduce emissions and avoid a climate catastrophe.”
To limit global warming to no more than 1.5°C, global emissions need to be reduced by 43% by 2030, 60% by 2035 and reach net zero by 2050. WWF’s NDCs We Want Checklist includes important elements countries should be including when designing new national climate plans aligned with these targets.
The EU must use its climate leadership here and set a good example for the whole world. Next year the EU will set its climate targets for 2040, and it is essential that these reflect a true understanding of the urgency and gravity of the climate crisis. The EU should be aiming for climate neutrality by 2040, and should set an NDC for 2035 that does more than simply mark the halfway point between its 2030 and 2040 goals and instead recognises that most of the emissions cuts have to happen now, not in the 2030s.
COP29 should also aim to cement the role of nature in climate action. The climate and nature crises are inextricably linked. In recent climate COP decisions, countries have increasingly recognised the importance of nature and nature-based solutions in climate action. Now countries need to turn this recognition into action by fully integrating nature in the development and delivery of their national climate action and adaptation plans.
WWF is calling for a new Climate-Nature Work Programme within the UNFCCC to deliver on the recommendations on nature from the COP28 outcome, promote synergies between national climate and biodiversity plans, and mainstream nature-based solutions and ecosystem based-approaches
