The UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) has resulted in a new finance goal to help countries protect their people and economies against climate disasters and share in the vast benefits of the clean energy boom.

With a central focus on climate finance, COP29 brought together nearly 200 countries in Baku, Azerbaijan, and reached a breakthrough agreement that will:

• Triple base finance to developing countries, from the previous goal of $100 billion annually to $300 billion annually by 2035.
• Scale up finance to developing countries from public and private sources to an overall goal of $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.

Known formally as the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), it was agreed after two weeks of intensive negotiations and several years of preparatory work, in a process that requires all nations to unanimously agree on every word of the agreement.

The International Energy Agency expects global clean energy investment to exceed $2 trillion for the first time in 2024.

The new finance goal at COP29 builds on on global climate action at COP27, which agreed on a historic Loss and Damage Fund, and COP28, which delivered a global agreement to transition away from all fossil fuels in energy systems swiftly and fairly, triple renewable energy, and boost climate resilience.

COP29 also reached agreement on standards for a centralized carbon market under the UN, which several previous COPs had not been able to achieve. This market will facilitate the trading of carbon credits, incentivizing countries to reduce emissions and invest in climate-friendly projects.

Important agreements were also reached on transparent climate reporting and adaptation.

The finance agreement at COP29 comes as stronger national climate plans (nationally determined contributions, or NDCs) become due from all countries next year. These new climate plans must cover all greenhouse gases and all sectors to target the 1.5° C warming limit set by the Paris Agreement.

COP29 saw two G20 countries, the U.K. and Brazil, signal clearly that they plan to ramp up climate action in their NDCs 3.0.

Learn more here.