Climate 411

Effective participation and engagement of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities at COP29

Juan Carlos Jintiach from the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, speaking on direct access to finanance for Indigenous People at COP29. Photo by Bärbel Henneberger.

Juan Carlos Jintiach from the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, speaking on direct access to finanance for Indigenous People at COP29. Photo by Bärbel Henneberger.

This post was authored by Bärbel Henneberger, Senior Partnerships Manager at the Environmental Defense Fund. 

On November 21, COP29 celebrated Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP and LCs) as a thematic day in the Action Agenda of the Azerbaijani COP presidency. The day underscored the essential role of IP and LCs in safeguarding 80% of the world’s biodiversity and preserving 36% of intact forest landscapes.

To succeed in the fight against climate change, we must collaborate with IPs and LCs and respect their principles, culture, and methods while providing the support they need to further our shared conservation goals. We won’t succeed in conserving tropical forests without the partnership and leadership of IPs and LCs.

Climate conferences like COP29 offer a platform for IP and LCs to amplify their voices, and shape negotiations. It’s an opportunity for them to show the world how their efforts to conserve and sustainably manage their territories, which are some of Earth’s most important ecosystems, are critically important in the climate fight.

At COP29, IP and LC delegates spotlighted examples of effective participation in negotiations, policy frameworks, and innovative climate finance mechanisms. These efforts, though diverse, share a common goal: to embed Indigenous rights and knowledge systems into global climate action. Below are a few examples of Indigenous approaches to conservation efforts showcased during COP29. Critically, the world must continue to support, and learn from, these approaches well after the negotiations in Baku have ended.

Spotlight on LCIPP and the IP Caucus

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Also posted in Carbon Markets, Forest protection, Indigenous People, International, Paris Agreement, REDD+, United Nations / Authors: / Comments are closed

Climate Finance and Accountability at COP29

COP29 sign in Baku

COP29 sign in Baku. Photo by UNclimatechange via Flickr

 

Today, November 14, is Finance Day at COP29. We caught up with Leslie Labruto, EDF’s Managing Director for Sustainable Finance, about what she’s watching for at COP29, the United Nations’ climate change talks in Baku, Azerbaijan. Follow Leslie on LinkedIn.

Q: You’re in Baku for COP29. What key issues are on your radar?

A: The spotlight here this year is on scaling up climate finance for developing countries, and a need for redoubled global cooperation to achieve our shared climate goals. My team and I, along with the rest of the +Business team at EDF, are laser focused on working with the private sector to ensure climate and nature wins. A major focus at COP will be the establishment of a climate finance goal, called the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), which will replace the $100 billion annual commitment that high-income countries pledged to deliver under the Paris Agreement. The NCQG could reach at least $1 trillion a year—a figure that better aligns with the financial gap that needs to be closed to address the climate crisis.

Developing countries need these funds to tackle climate change, transition to clean energy, and adapt to the impacts of climate change, and it’s crucial that the finance be provided in a way that’s just, equitable, and effective. Let’s not forget that those ‘wins’ in developing countries are good for everyone everywhere, since climate impacts are felt globally. Successful climate finance means more forests still standing, a larger climate workforce, more resilient food systems, more methane abated, and greater global renewable energy capacity. Because climate-related investments are needed to meet global goals and address inequitable impacts from past emissions, low-income borrowers should have access to concessional finance. The NCQG will not only scale up ambition but also support countries as they prepare to submit their updated climate commitments in 2025.

Q: You’ve emphasized both the quantity and quality of climate finance. What do you mean by “quality”?

A: While the amount of climate finance is essential, its effectiveness — its quality — is equally important. When we talk about quality, we mean ensuring that climate finance is structured to be concessional, accessible, and impactful. In the private sector, finance is tracked with metrics like profits and losses that communicate shareholder value. In climate finance, however, there is less accountability in terms of impact metrics.

Climate finance should leverage public and private investment to make rapid progress toward net zero emissions and benefit local communities. To make sure financing achieves this, we need a system that is accountable for being easy to access, impactful in tackling climate-related challenges, and affordable for borrowers.

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Also posted in Carbon Markets, International, Paris Agreement, United Nations / Authors: / Comments are closed

Closing emissions gap with 2025 NDC Revisions: Critical Opportunities for Climate Action

The UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2024 presents stark findings on the state of global climate action. Current pledges would only reduce emissions 4-10% below 2019 levels by 2030 – far short of the 42% reduction needed to limit warming to 1.5°C. These gaps are corroborated by the Nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement Synthesis report by the UNFCCC secretariat, which noted thatbolder new climate plans are vital to drive stronger investment, economic growth and opportunity, more jobs, less pollution, better health and lower costs, more secure and affordable clean energy, among many others benefits.

While these gaps are alarming, we have the solutions to address them. In fact, the report reveals a crucial window of opportunity as countries prepare their next Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for submission in 2025. Through immediate, decisive action on NDCs, we can bridge the gap and put ourselves back on track to 1.5. 

Reflecting on the report recommendations, these are three strategic areas to help bridge the gap in countries’ updated NDCs:  

  • First, comprehensive investment planning must become central to NDC development. Countries should include detailed project pipelines that identify specific, bankable projects aligned with sectoral transformation pathways. These plans should outline clear implementation timelines, risk mitigation strategies, and resource requirements. Critically, they must demonstrate how public finance can leverage private investment at the necessary scale.  
  • Second, NDCs must strengthen coverage and transparency across all sectors and gases. Particular attention should focus on methane emissions, where rapid reductions could have immediate climate benefits. Many countries have encouragingly incorporated methane into their NDCs – the 2024 NDC synthesis reports suggests that 91% of parties cover methane within their mitigation targets. However, only 5% of parties have specific quantified methane targets, demonstrating a significant area for improvement. 
  • Third, countries must reimagine climate finance through a just transition lens. This means moving beyond simple volume targets to emphasize finance quality: its accessibility, predictability, and alignment with development priorities. For developing economies, which require an eight to sixteenfold increase in climate investment by 2030, NDCs should clearly distinguish between unconditional actions and those requiring international support. They should also outline specific measures to ensure transitions benefit vulnerable communities and workers. 

Elements for NDC enhancement in 2025

The upcoming NDC revision cycle is a rare opportunity to fundamentally reshape climate ambition and action. By focusing on these three areas – comprehensive investment planning, enhanced sectoral coverage and transparency, and quality climate finance for just transitions – countries can develop NDCs that not only raise ambition but also chart practical pathways for implementation. 

The solutions and financing approaches exist to close the emissions gap. What’s needed now is the political will to deploy them at unprecedented speed and scale through this critical NDC revision process. 

 

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To meet our climate goals, we need climate plans backed by science and economics

As countries make their way to Baku, Azerbaijan to attend COP29, the annual United National climate conference, we have a clear challenge. Currently, the climate commitments made by countries are not ambitious enough to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

COP29 is our moment to meet this challenge head-on, where countries can align on what needs to happen to meet our global climate goals.

Next year, countries will update their national climate plans under the Paris Agreement for 2025-2030—and the urgency to accelerate climate action has never been clearer.  These climate plans are called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and they need to be ambitious enough to meet the pace and scale demanded by science. 

Building on global lessons and efforts towards global solutions 

Responding to this global call, the NDC Partnership and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) launched a joint Climate Investment Planning and Mobilization Framework. The Framework aims to create a common language for diverse stakeholders to communicate priorities, needs, and challenges in mobilizing climate finance. 

This framework underscores the fundamental importance of strong evidence-based decision-making in revising and enhancing NDCs. Commitments need to be ambitious—but  also realistic, achievable, and aligned with the latest scientific understanding of climate change and its impacts.  

At Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), we believe in working and building on the efforts of partners. For decades we have worked to bridge science, economics and policy to drive forward practical solutions to some of our thorniest challenges, from cutting methane pollution to halting deforestation, which puts us on. We’re working to build on this record of advancing science and economics-backed NDCs by contributing new research, innovative tools, and solutions that are grounded in evidence, which uniquely positions us to Use evidence-based decisions for NDC 3.0 Revisions.  

How to Use Evidence-based Decision-Making for Impactful NDC Revisions  Read More »

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Climate Week NYC Kicks Off a Critical Window for Climate Action

2030 is six years away! In these next six years, we have to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 45% to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, according to the United Nations.  

To make the most of these essential years, we need to shift into a higher gear and accelerate the pace of action. The next 18 months of climate decisions are pivotal to set ourselves up for success: 

  • A New Climate Finance Goal at COP29: This November, at the UN’s COP29 in Azerbaijan, nations need to agree on a new global finance goal. This decision-point will determine how much money we must dedicate to support developing countries in taking climate action, and how that money will reach the countries and communities that need it most.   Read More »
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Investors, bipartisan former officials, others defend SEC climate risk disclosure rule

Photo by Jose Saenz

 

Extreme weather caused by climate change is a threat to human health and safety, but it is also increasingly the cause of serious economic disruptions. And in the transition to a lower carbon economy, companies are navigating both opportunities and challenges.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently adopted a rule to better equip investors to manage these risks. The rule will standardize public companies’ disclosures of climate-related financial risk information. (You can read more details about the rule here).

The SEC’s rule has received widespread support from a diverse array of stakeholders. However, certain state attorneys general, oil and gas interests, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and others have challenged the rule in court.

EDF joined Americans for Financial Reform, Sierra Club, and Sierra Club Foundation (represented by Earthjustice) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to support the SEC’s climate risk disclosure rule by filing an amicus curiae – or “friend of the court” – brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Our brief shows that:

  • The rule is rooted in decades of the SEC requiring financially relevant environmental disclosures and updating disclosure requirements to reflect evolving market dynamics and investor concerns.
  • The rule is reasonable and firmly supported by rigorous evidence of the importance of climate risk information to investors.
  • The rule furthers the SEC’s core missions of investor protection, market efficiency, competition, and capital formation.

Our brief is in good company. More than a dozen others from investors, experts, and a broad range of stakeholders have also been filed in support of the rule, underscoring the SEC’s manifest authority to require commonsense climate-related financial risk disclosure and the importance and benefits of doing so.

Here are a few highlights from filings supporting the SEC’s action:

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