Woe is COP 29

The Ministerial consultations are underway and blocs are organising to ensure their positions are reflected in the text. There is significant confusion in the process and the expectation is a draft text will be delivered by the Presidency tomorrow evening. In the meantime the day continued with a marathon of other finance agenda items.

No Cover Decision – The Presidency has indicated that the Cover Decision—the overarching political statement summarising the conference’s outcome—will not be delivered at this COP. This is important as many items have not concluded so their conclusions will not be very consequential and as such we are unable to point back at holding countries accountable/progress until next year.

Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) – no consensus
This item remains extremely divergent with the Likeminded Group of Developing Countries not wanting any mention to IPCC nor the GST. Brazil’s proposal of a investment platform was gaining momentum but some Parties like the US would need to consider this more. The US curiously asked where it would be housed and that it should not duplicate efforts. Wonder if this may be a positioning for such a platform to be under an MDB! It is unclear how this agenda item will move forward. It could have no decision or an informal note that captures views expressed.

Many parties (e.g., Australia, Canada, Kenya) expressed disappointment over procedural delays and the inability to agree on substantive outcomes.
Several countries emphasized the critical role of L&D in addressing climate justice and the necessity of operationalizing the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).