LIFE VIIEW 2050 Conference ‘Summary of the results of COP29’

LIFE VIIEW 2050 Conference ‘Summary of the results of COP29’

LIFE VIIEW 2050 Conference ‘Summary of the results of COP29’

On 17.12.2024, a conference within the LIFE VIIEW 2050 project was held at IOŚ-PIB headquarters to summarise the results of the 29th Climate Change Conference (COP29), which ended on 22 November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

One of the main elements of the meeting was the opportunity to present the activities of CAKE and the LIFE VIIEW 2050 project during COP29. This year, CAKE had the opportunity to participate in four side-events, two of which it co-organised during COP29. The meeting was also an excellent opportunity to discuss the experience of Polish experts in their work for the UNFCCC, especially taking into account the 30th anniversary of the Climate Convention coming into force this year. The meeting was honoured with the presence of Prof. Maciej Sadowski, Ph.D., who joined the participants at the special invitation of Robert Jeszke, Deputy Director of IOŚ-PIB, Head of KOBIZE and CAKE. Prof. Sadowski is an unquestionable international authority on climate change, a climatologist, and an expert who was involved in the creation and then the work of the Climate Convention from its inception. Professor Sadowski shared with the meeting participants not only his long-standing experience in international work focused on climate change, but also presented his reflections on the most current discussions, primarily related to the implementation of the Paris Agreement, which met with great interest from the meeting participants. Professor Sadowski emphasised, among other things, that the two key areas of the Climate Convention – education and adaptation – are extremely important areas where work should be carried out on an equal footing with mitigation efforts, including global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Katarzyna Wrona, Director of the Department of Air Protection and Climate Negotiations at the Ministry of Climate and Environment, currently serving as Head of the Polish negotiating team for the UNFCCC, presented not only a summary of the entire COP29, but also outlined the challenges that negotiators will face in the coming months, also in the context of Poland assuming the Presidency of the Council of the EU at the beginning of 2025.

Members of the Polish Climate Convention negotiating team presented detailed results of the Baku negotiations in selected areas. In view of the financial dimension of the last COP in Baku, Edward Basiński and Patrycja Brudzińska (representatives of the Ministry of Finance) presented the results of COP29 on climate finance, including, above all, the new quantifiable financial target adopted at the Baku conference. Piotr Dombrowicki (KOBiZE IOŚ-PIB), on the other hand, presented to the meeting participants the latest results of the negotiators’ work on market mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which are of key importance for global climate cooperation, and the arrangements adopted at COP29 are considered a major success based on many years of difficult work under the UNFCCC on this issue.

Afterwards, other members of the Polish negotiating team presented summaries of the work achieved during COP29 also in other areas, which are key topics currently being discussed at the UNFCCC.

• Paulina Grzelak i Marcin Żaczek (KOBiZE IOŚ-PIB) discussed issues related to transparency and reporting, highlighting the role of these processes in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the appropriate level of ambition of actions taken by countries worldwide.
• Marzena Chodor (KOBiZE IOŚ-PIB) presented the challenges of fair transition and capacity building in less developed countries.
• Jolanta Wilomska i Dominika Dąbrowa (KOBiZE IOŚ-PIB) discussed the results of the Global Review, which is one of the pillars of the Covenant, and its implications for future work under the Convention.
• Maciej Werkowski (KOBiZE IOŚ-PIB) discussed the role of bunker fuels in the context of international transport.
• Tomasz Meres (Ministerstwo Klimatu i Środowiska) presented the topic of adaptation to climate change as a topic gaining increasing attention in international negotiations.

In a summary of the speeches by members of the negotiating team, Anna Serzysko (KOBiZE IOŚ-PIB) summarised the activities of countries to date within their nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement (the so-called NDCs), while outlining the upcoming work, challenges and events that will take place in the arena of international climate negotiations in the coming months. Among the key issues highlighted by Anna Serzysko was the process of submitting Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) by the end of the current year by Parties to the Paris Agreement, as well as the presentation of new contributions to the climate agreement (NDCs) outlining countries’ actions beyond 2030, around which next year’s discussions at the Climate Conference, as well as at next year’s COP30, to be held in November 2025 in Belem, Brazil, will be dominated.

The meeting was also an opportunity to summarise the involvement of KOBiZE and the Centre for Climate and Energy Analysis (CAKE) in the events accompanying the 29th Climate Change Conference  Mr Maciej Cygler (CAKE/KOBiZE) presented the activities of IOŚ-PIB within the LIFE VIIEW 2050 project during the events accompanying COP29 and emphasised the importance of scientific and expert cooperation in shaping climate policy. More information about the involvement of KOBiZE and the Centre for Climate and Energy Analysis (CAKE) in COP29 can be found here:

• 12 November 2024, Robert Jeszke, Robert Jeszke, Deputy Director of the EIA-PIB for Emissions Management and Head of KOBIZE and CAKE, was a panellist in an event organised in the Italian Pavilion by the EUI and ICAP  „Can emissions trading promote carbon removals?”. 
  Link: https://climatecake.ios.edu.pl/aktualnosci/news-viiew/first-day-of-cakes-participation-at-cop29/?lang=en
• 14th November 202, CAKE co-organised a side event in the Ukrainian Pavilion:  “Carbon pricing as a response to climate change in the EU neighbouring countries.”Link: https://climatecake.ios.edu.pl/aktualnosci/news-viiew/cake-life-viiew-2050-side-event-at-cop29-in-ukrainian-pavilion/?lang=en
• 15th November 2024, Robert Jeszke, Deputy Director of IOŚ-PIB for Emissions Management and Head of KOBIZE and CAKE participated in a side event at COP29 organised in the Greek Pavilion by the Energy Forum entitled. „The EU Clean Industrial Deal – what to expect?”. Link: https://climatecake.ios.edu.pl/aktualnosci/news-viiew/cake-on-the-eu-clean-industrial-deal-side-event/?lang=en
• 18th November 2024 CAKE co-organised a siede event in the Greek Pavilion: „Powering Climate Action: Balancing Ambitious Targets with Effective Mechanisms for Emissions Reduction”. Link: https://climatecake.ios.edu.pl/aktualnosci/news-viiew/cake-at-4-th-side-event-at-cop-29/?lang=en 

We also encourage you to read the latest LIFE VIIEW 2050 report , as well as monograph focused on the international climate negotiations :

•   VIIEW on EU ETS 2050: Linking EU ETS with other carbon pricing mechanisms (3.0 MiB, 117 hits)

• KOBiZE IOŚ-PIB monograph entitled ‘International Negotiations under the Climate Convention’ only in polsh language: https://ios.edu.pl/aktualnosci-en-pl/monografia-miedzynarodowe-negocjacje-w-ramach-konwencji-klimatycznej/