CCAC at COP29: Daily Updates - 19 November 2024

COP29: The Final Push Begins

With three days remaining of formal negotiations, the pressure is on for Parties to come to an agreement on a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. Little has been said publicly on the detailed status of negotiations, and while some observers were awaiting clues following the close of the G20 Summit in Brazil, a G20 Leaders Declaration released today featured no new language on climate finance, only calling for the rapid scaling of climate finance from “billions to trillions”. Notably, an identical call for this increase was made in last year’s G20 Leaders Declaration in New Delhi.

Elsewhere at COP, several new countries have joined the “International Coalition on Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Incentives Including Subsidies” (COFFIS), including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Colombia. They join a now 16-country bloc of governments calling to phase out these subsidies, joining Antigua and Barbuda, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxemburg, the Netherland, Spain, and Switzerland.

Super Pollutants at COP29

Today we saw super pollutants firmly back on the COP29 agenda, with the release of the Reducing Organic Waste Methane Declaration, with over 30 Parties representing nearly 50% of global methane emissions from organic waste declaring their commitment to set sectoral targets to reducing methane from organic waste within future NDCs. This includes 7 of the world’s 10 largest organic waste methane emitters, and as part of the Declaration, Signatories also commit to launching concrete policies and roadmaps to meet these sectoral methane targets. The Declaration, coordinated and supported by the CCAC, builds on the work of previous COPs by supporting the implementation of the 2021 Global Methane Pledge (GMP), launched at COP26. Read more here.

To support the Declaration, the CCAC co-hosted, alongside the COP29 Presidency, an Official Side Event on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste, featuring keynote remarks from COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Inger Andersen, and Japan Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs, Matsuzawa Yutaka.  Martina Otto, Head of the CCAC, Secretariat, also took part in the daily COP29 press conference, to speak to the Declaration and the importance of tackling methane emissions from organic waste.

Also today, the CCAC Technology & Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP), co-led by Ireland and Senegal, and in collaboration with leading experts in agriculture and climate, have released a new report that spotlights Digital Extension Services for Livestock (DSL) as a promising and immediately implementable solution for methane mitigation for farmers in low-and-middle income countries. Speaking virtually at a COP29 side event co-hosted by Clim-Eat and the Global Methane Hub, Greg Kohler, CCAC Agriculture Expert, highlighted how DSL is key to changing the way we manage livestock and how it can help incentivize markets to drive sustainable change. Read more here.

Finally, Martina Otto also participated in a side event focused on the NDC 3.0 Navigator, a guide to help countries enhance their climate action plans by prioritizing methane reduction. The joint publication is a collaboration between CCAC, FAO, GIZ, Global Methane Hub, IFAD, NDC Partnership, The Nature Conservancy, USAID, the World Bank, and the World Biogas Association. Check out the CCAC’s NDC guidance on super pollutants here, now available in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.  

We Don't Have Time X CCAC:  #BuyMoreTime – Air Pollution

Today's Broadcast focused on how to rapidly reduce methane emissions from the agriculture sector.

Speakers:

• Finn Ross, Director, Climate Action Company
• Martina Otto, Head of Secretariat, Climate & Clean Air Coalition, UNEP
• Julia Wolf, Natural Resources Officer, FAO’s Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment

Overheard at COP29

"About 20% of methane emissions are from the waste sector, presenting a unique opportunity for transformational change. Today, we are adopting the COP29 Declaration on reducing methane from organic waste. This Declaration aims to promote increased targets and inspire more governments to join the Global Methane Commitment.”

 Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President

 “The multilateral process is important. However, the pace with which these negotiations are moving can sometimes feel agonizingly frustrating. The importance of these issues to Pacific countries cannot be understated. Around the world, conversations on global security often revolve around invasions, acts of terrorism and threats to peace. For us, the climate crisis is an invasion. It’s a relentless, unyielding force that attacks our food security, our economy, our culture, and our very existence.”

Surangel Whipps Jr, President of Palau