COP29 Diary (November 15, 2024): New draft text on NCQG released

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COP29 Diary (November 15, 2024): New draft text on NCQG released

Climate Change

COP29 Diary (November 15, 2024): New draft text on NCQG released

Global Matchmaking Platform for Industrial Decarbonisation launched as support mechanism to fast-track decarbonisation of heavy emitting industries

Upamanyu Das, Trishant Dev, Akshit Sangomla, Rohini Krishnamurthy, Parth Kumar, Manas Agrawal

Published:16th Nov, 2024 at 4:46 PM

The 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan, began November 11, 2024. Here’s a look at what happened on the fifth day of COP29. Also read the diary for November 11, November 12, November 13 and November 14.

New Collective Quantified Goal for Climate Finance (NCQG)

The co-chairs released a new draft text based on the mandate received from Parties to streamline the first iteration of the draft decision text without making any substantive changes. The new text brings together paragraphs with similar themes, retains proposals that carry different nuances, and considers inputs for streamlining received from informal Party discussions. The co-chairs also stated that any new inputs from the concurrent informal Party discussions can be incorporated into the text before November 16’s deadline. Parties continued to engage with each other on issues of access, transparency and dis-enablers through the day.

Article 6.4

On Article 6.4, discussions were carried forward on the draft text that was released on November 14, mainly around the scope and changes to the authorisation process. Countries chose from different options on these elements and there were differences in preferences. 

Article 6.2

On Article 6.2, a much-streamlined draft decision text was provided on November 15 by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice chair than the text that came out on November 14 and had been a source of confusion and disappointment among negotiators. The new text was discussed by the negotiators in the evening session on November 15 and saw a general preference for this text, although some parties voiced their reservations about some sections — especially on the scope of authorisation and use of Internationally Traded Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) if inconsistencies are found. Another late-night meeting discussed the mode of work going forward.

Unilateral Trade Measures

A presidential meeting was held on the concerns over restrictive unilateral trade measures. G77 & China made a submission opposing unilateral trade measures and advocating for them to be discussed in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) forum. India, too, voiced its concerns with such measures and said restrictive unilateral measures force developing and low-income nations to bear the costs of transitioning to low-carbon economies. The European Union was opposed to the idea of discussing such measures at UNFCCC, saying that it is already being addressed at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Mitigation Work Programme (MWP)

An informal note was laid before parties by co-facilitators and several developing countries in the Mitigation Ambition and Implementation Work Programme (MWP) forum. It opined that the text cannot be accepted as the basis of further work of the forum. According to Like-Minded Developing Countries, many elements were beyond the mandate of the forum. India shared these concerns, calling the language prescriptive and outside the scope of the work programme and additionally highlighted the need to discuss unilateral trade measures — something that Grupo SUR has highlighted in earlier meetings.

Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)

The discussions on the GGA revolved around the indicators for tracking the progress made on the various thematic and dimensional targets under the GGA framework. The disagreements between developed and developing countries remained on a number of indicators, whether and how they can be aggregated coming from different contexts, the definition of indicators to track the means of implementation which was major contention at COP 28 and was kept out of the decision text.

National Adaptation Plans (NAPs)

The new draft text on the NAPs was rejected by the G77 and China bloc on the basis of non-inclusion of reference to means of implementation that has been the main demand of the developing country Parties. They also contended the inclusion of private sector resources for NAP implementation.

Eye on methane

The United Nations Environment Programme launched its “An Eye on Methane” report at COP29, highlighting how little governments do to check methane emissions despite making pledges. The report finds that only over 1 per cent of governments and companies have responded to methane alter leaks from around the world. Read more here.

Big divide

A day after the European Union voiced their support for expanding contributor base and stressed that private finance has a key role to play in NCQG, the Least Developed Countries (LDC) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) had a very different view on the two issues. The two blocs told journalists that the new goal should be largely supported by public finance. They called for minimum allocation of US$39 billion for SIDS and US$220 billion for LDCs per year.

Industrial decarbonisation through CCS deployment

The Global Cement and Concrete Association organised a discussion on carbon capture storage (CCS) deployment at its pavilion at COP29. The discussion had representatives from the US Department of Energy, Clean Air Task Force from Europe, Global CCS Institute China and the Holcim Group. The discussion centred around the needs for ramping up CCS, scaling it up, how policy could bridge its shortfalls as well as the geopolitics around it.

Pavan Chilukuri, vice president, CCUS, Holcim, pointed out Europe to be the company’s most favourable place for CCS/CCUS projects due to their policies like ETS, CBAM, provision of capex and opex support through EU innovation funds, presence of market for low carbon cement and an additional revenue stream through monetising Centres for Construction Development and Research in the voluntary market. He pointed out the US has certainty of investment through its 45 Q policy but the amount of $85 is too low for a cement plant with storage farther than 20 kilometres.

Chilukuri appreciated China’s effort to de-risk CCU/CCS. However, he pointed out that since the country utilises CO2 on a large scale, it becomes difficult for companies to achieve their near zero, especially if it is for 2050 or before. This is because if one makes fuels from CO2, one ends up adding to one’s scope 3 emissions.

A lot of emphasis was put on governments to invest in transportation and storage infrastructure because without it, companies would also not be able to move faster as they are limited to capturing CO2. Although countries like the US have allocated funds for infrastructure and plans to make storage hubs, it might take some time to have it all on the ground. 

Three pledges to promote ambition of tripling RE and doubling energy efficiency by 2030

At a high level ministerial on green energy, the COP29 presidency called on parties to endorse three initiatives supporting last year’s pledge on renewable energy, energy efficiency and hydrogen.

The Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge, led by the COP29 Presidency, aims to achieve a global target of 1,500 GW in energy storage and 25 million kilometres of grid infrastructure by 2030 and an additional 65 million kilometres by 2040.

The Green Energy Zones and Corridors Pledge complements the focus on grid expansion. Azerbaijan announced the Central Asia-Azerbaijan Green Energy Corridor as an initiative to promote green energy interconnectedness in Central Asia.

The third was the Hydrogen Declaration, which aims to catalyse a global clean hydrogen market.

The high-level presidency roundtable was backed by Sweden, Uruguay, the UAE and Brazil, along with multilateral development banks, Global Renewable Alliance and Green Climate Fund, though the signatories have not been mentioned yet.

Launch of Global Matchmaking Platform

The Climate Club, along with UNIDO, launched the Global Matchmaking Platform for Industrial Decarbonisation on November 15 evening. The Global Matchmaking Platform is a support mechanism of the Climate Club designed to fast-track the decarbonisation of heavy emitting industries and foster zero and low-emission industrial development in emerging and developing economies.

The launch event witnessed representatives from Uruguay, Chile, Germany, Bangladesh, Turkey and Ukraine along with World Bank, Climate Investment Funds and International Energy Agency promoting industrial decarbonisation. The effort is aimed at promoting knowledge sharing and technology transfer in hard-to-abate industrial sectors. The co-chair from Germany highlighted that collaborations between the Global South and Global North are imperative and their aim is to increase the pool of donors and banks by COP30 in Brazil.  

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