Hi, Everyone! 

I’m Amanda Magnani, a Brazilian (photo)journalist and OptOut News’ climate editor. COP 29, the annual U.N. climate conference started today in Baku, Azerbaijan, and it happens at a critical time for our planet. 

Over the next two weeks, government leaders, climate activists and big companies from all over the world will gather to discuss the future of climate action. So, in today's special newsletter, I bring you some of the most important information to understand what’s at stake at this year’s event. 

For some of the key concepts of any COP, I recommend you check out this guide I wrote last year, ahead of COP 28. And if you don’t follow us on Instagram yet, I invite you to do it, because I will be sharing the most important news from the negotiations throughout the event. 

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Before we start, I’d like to invite you to become one of OptOut’s donors. Independent media is critical for democracy. We need your support to be able to continue doing this work. 

Here’s a photo of me at COP 28 in Dubai last year to thank you for considering supporting us. 

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COP 29 took off earlier this week in Baku, Azerbaijan, and will continue at least until November 22, depending on how smoothly negotiations go. The World Leaders Climate Action Summit will take place over the next two days and will be followed by thematic negotiation days that will lead to the final negotiations. 

Azerbaijan is a petro-state, much like Egypt, UAE, and Brazil, where next year’s COP will take place. And like Egypt and UAE, Azerbaijan is an authoritarian state. In what seems to have become the new normal for the hosts of the UN climate conferences, the country has received countless denunciations of human rights violations and censorship, especially in the weeks leading to the event. As a Brazilian, I really hope we’ll break that trend. 

As always, this year’s COP builds on the outcomes of previous years. COP 28’s main outcome was the Global Stocktake, which evaluated how much the world has evolved since the Paris Agreement of 2015. In a surprise to no one, it showed that in spite of some relevant advances, we’re way too far behind and way too limited in our actions to keep global warming to 1,5°C. 

The document that came out of last year’s negotiations was the first to explicitly mention fossil fuels, as it called for “accelerating the transition to renewable energy and phasing down unabated fossil fuels in energy systems, while ensuring energy security and affordable energy access for all.” This year, negotiators should discuss how to carry forward this decision. 

But money is the main issue this year. As a matter of fact, this has been dubbed the “finance COP.” Over the next two weeks, the parties are due to replace a climate finance goal set in 2009, when developed countries pledged $100 billion annually to the nations most affected by the climate crisis by 2020. While the OCDE affirms the goal was met in 2022, some Global South countries don’t agree. 

The objective at COP 29 is to agree on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). Besides agreeing on the sum, which will probably be at least $1 trillion a year between 2030 and 2050, countries also must decide where the money will come from, who will hold it, and how it will be accessed in order to make sure it actually reaches those who need it.

As always, there will be other issues up for negotiation, and Grist has prepared a great list of what to watch—from the NCQG to carbon markets, to the role of the U.S. 

Yet, this year’s negotiations will be especially tricky. Besides all the uncertainty that comes with Donald Trump’s election and the hovering threats of the U.S. leaving the Paris Agreement, the list of no-shows just keeps growing, from Biden, to Brazil’s Lula da Silva, to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as Gas Outlook reports. 

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. 

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The Elections Are Over. Now What?

🇺🇸 “What the U.S. election could mean for the Line 5 pipeline and other cross-border Great Lakes issues,” by The Narwhal. 

🇺🇸 “An attempt to repeal Washington’s landmark climate law failed massively,” by Grist. 

🇺🇸 “Trump Won The Most Important Climate Election Ever. Now What?” by Atmos. 

🇺🇸 “Trump Wins, Planet Loses,” by Grist. 

🇺🇸 “A Climate Scientist on What Trump’s Victory Means for Global Warming,” by The New Republic. 

🇺🇸 “Trump’s regulatory assault could leave the U.S. further behind,” by Gas Outlook. 

🇺🇸 “1.5C is dead. The climate fight isn’t.” by Heated. 

🇺🇸 “Environmental groups prepare for a pro-industry, pro-extraction Trump administration,” by Wisconsin Examiner. 

🇺🇸 “He’ll try, but Trump can’t stop the clean energy revolution,” by Grist. 

🇺🇸 “Climate Deniers Waiting in the Wings as Trump Reclaims Presidency,” by DeSmog. 

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And More

🛢 “Public Funding for Nature Conservation Stalls at COP16,” by WhoWhyWhat. 

🛢 “The Climate Crisis Is a Cost-of-Living Crisis,” by The American Prospect. 

🛢 “Hurricane Helene jeopardized high-risk pregnancies and abortion access in North Carolina,” by NC Newsline. 

🛢 “Will Hydrogen Hubs Be a Clean Energy Boom or Boondoggle?” by Yale Environment 360.

🛢 “It’s already official: You’re living through the hottest year on record,” by Grist. 

🛢 “Scientists put women’s health, miscarriage risk on COP29 agenda,” by Gas Outlook. 

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To Lighten Your Heart

💚 “Tropical Forests Could Regrow Naturally on Area the Size of Mexico,” by Yale Environment 360. 

💚 “How do you save a rainforest? Leave it alone.” by Grist. 

💚 “Nurturing the Ocean, Sustaining the Land,” by Atmos. 

💚 “The Five States Where Environmental Ballot Initiatives Triumphed,” by EOS. 

💚 “Tree of Life,” by Atmos. 

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That’s all for now, folks! If you have any questions or suggestions, hit me up at amanda@optout.news. 

Obrigada and have a great week!

The OptOut Media Foundation (EIN: 85-2348079) is a nonprofit charity with a mission to educate the public about current events and help sustain a diverse media ecosystem by promoting and assisting independent news outlets and, in doing so, advance democracy and social justice.

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