The Fundación Renovables considers the final outcome of the COP29 negotiations, concluded this weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan, to be disappointing. The wealthy countries, which have historically contributed the most to the climate crisis through their CO2 emissions, have failed to live up to expectations and blocked the climate finance agreement for vulnerable and developing countries until the very end.

The final document includes the goal for developed countries to contribute 300 billion annually by 2035 to a fund that will assist Global South countries in adapting their economies to the climate crisis, as well as addressing the losses and damages caused by global warming.

This amount is undoubtedly insufficient and well below the needs of most developing countries, which are highly exposed to the devastating effects of climate change.

Although the agreement increases funding compared to the 2009 figure of 100 billion, it overlooks the effects of inflation in these countries and how this dilutes the economic effort, which, as requested by African and small island state delegations, should have been at least 500 billion dollars.

It is an insufficient amount that also runs the risk of amounting to nothing. Previous negotiations on climate finance serve as a precedent, as wealthy countries had already been failing for four years to meet the goal of allocating 100 billion annually for climate finance for developing countries.

The poor results of this summit are not accidental; they are part of a process of underwhelming agreements in which the fossil fuel lobby has played a significant role.

The recent COP presidencies (Egypt, UAE, and Azerbaijan) have fallen into the hands of countries with close ties to the oil and gas sectors, which have hindered and obstructed any progress. The UN must remove the fossil fuel lobby from these international negotiation processes to ensure absolute independence.

The negotiations on mitigation were also inadequate. As happened in Egypt and the UAE, the presidency of COP29 yielded to the interests of the fossil fuel lobby and did not allow progress on an agreement text that clearly addresses the end of fossil fuels.

From Fundación Renovables, we find it unacceptable that year after year this blockage continues. It is not possible for an international summit like this one to avoid mentioning fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change, in its final agreements.

There was also no progress on the need to update the NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions), the decarbonization plans that each country submits to the UN, and other key negotiations have been postponed.

Lastly, the discussions to shape Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and establish a carbon market mechanism also left a bad taste.

A tool should have been designed to contribute to decarbonizing the economy and follow the “polluter pays” principle, but in the end, a text was adopted that will allow fossil fuel sectors to offset their emissions.

However, from Fundación Renovables, we believe that there is still room for action and hope that the Brazilian presidency of the next Climate Summit (COP30) can lead negotiations toward a more ambitious scenario, free from the interference of the fossil fuel lobby.