GSC Insights EP05 - COP29: The Four Pillars Shaping Global Climate Action

As the CEO of Finboot, a leading technology provider for green supply chain management solutions in capital-intensive industries such as oil & gas, mining, packaging, and chemicals, I published the latest episode of my Green Supply Chain Insights series on the opening day of COP29, sharing my expectations for the summit.

Now, with November 22 marking the negotiations and final day, this article has been updated to include the key discussions and outcomes from COP29.

What is COP?

COP stands for the Annual Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This global conference brings together world leaders, businesses, and environmental groups to tackle climate change.

I had the privilege of attending COP28 in Dubai last year, where SABIC, one of the world's largest chemical manufacturers and a strong Finboot supporter, invited me to join a panel discussion on our joint work for decarbonising the chemical industry. It marked a historic agreement as world leaders signed a commitment to move away from fossil fuels. 

Key Themes of COP29

This year, COP29 has taken place in Baku, Azerbaijan. Despite some controversy over oil & gas states being in leadership positions, I believe it’s necessary to bring everyone to the table to address climate change. In 2025, COP30 will move to Belem, Brazil, located at the gateway to the Amazon rainforest—a highly relevant location for climate discussions.

COP29 has centred on four main themes:

1. The Update of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
2. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
3. The Just Transition
4. The Growing Role of the Private Sector in COP

1. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

NDCs are the targets each country sets to reduce emissions and limit global temperature rise. The scientific consensus is that temperatures should not exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. However,  the current NDCs are not ambitious enough, and many countries are failing to meet their own targets, as the current policies are already failing on their progress to meet the NDCs announced in 2020. 

Encouragingly, at COP29, a Joint Press Release on 1.5°C-Aligned Ambition in NDCs Toward Net Zero highlighted some progress:

• The United Kingdom, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates have announced ambitious 2035 NDC targets.
• The GZERO countries of Bhutan, Madagascar, Panama, and Suriname have already achieved net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
• Canada, Chile, the European Union, Georgia, Mexico, Norway, and Switzerland have committed to submitting NDCs that are:

These commitments set a hopeful tone, but as I mentioned in my video, the real challenge lies in ensuring these ambitious targets are met with concrete action.

We need more evidence-backed data to support our claims and harsher consequences to penalise inaction. 

2. Article 6 and Carbon Markets

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement focuses on carbon offsets and emissions trading. It’s crucial that carbon markets become more transparent, and that businesses rely on high-quality, verifiable credits. Offsetting can support decarbonization but should complement, not replace, other emission-reduction strategies. It must be auditable and transparent to ensure effectiveness.

We can finally say that the decade-long impasse on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement was resolved. High-integrity carbon markets were established, enabling countries and companies to collaborate on meeting their climate goals. These markets are projected to save up to $250 billion annually in implementing NDCs.

The adopted rules ensure transparency, verifiability, and inclusivity, with a strong focus on fairness and equity. It seeks to ensure all parties are equally informed and capacitated to strategically engage, that fairer terms, conditions, and prices are negotiated with buyers, and that benefit sharing, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)  impacts, and social and environmental safeguards are at the core of carbon program design and implementation.

While this unanimous decision on Article 6 will play a pivotal role in the integrity of carbon markets; it still falls short in its efforts to completely eliminate low quality and unreliable credits.

Leaving a big responsibility to the businesses who engage in these markets to perform their own due diligence and guarantee a reliable decarbonisation. 

3. The Just Transition

The Just Transition emphasises the need to integrate social commitments, worker protection, and skill development into climate action. This is a delicate subject, because, as I explain in my video, developing countries argue that it’s unfair to slow their economic growth, given the historical emissions of developed nations. I recommend you to check out Earth4All, an international initiative aimed at accelerating systems change for a fairer future.

At the summit, a pivotal agreement was reached to provide $300 billion annually by 2035 from public and private sources to help developing countries cope with climate impacts and transition to cleaner energy systems.

While the funding is a step forward, it falls significantly short of the $1.3 trillion per year that vulnerable nations had previously highlighted as necessary.

Meaning there continues to be a huge funding gap for climate action.

The funding aims to support adaptation projects like climate-resilient infrastructure and sustainable farming while also facilitating the transition to renewable energy and reducing industrial emissions. However, many developing countries, including India and Nigeria, criticised the amount as insufficient, with concerns about whether the promised funds will materialise; without firm financial commitments, this deal risks being ineffective.

4. The Growing Role of the Private Sector in COP

An unofficial fourth theme from COP28 was the increased involvement of the private sector. While there are concerns about businesses influencing policy for their own economic gain, I see this as an opportunity. Private companies must be more engaged to accelerate decarbonisation efforts and meet NDC targets. They should aim to exceed regulatory requirements, but they must also be held accountable.

Public-private collaboration is key to achieving climate-neutrality, and we must ensure that businesses back up their sustainability claims with evidence. This is how we avoid “greenwashing” and hold companies responsible for their actions.

In light of these very challenging multilateral negotiations among regulators, and the limited progress that we’ve achieved this year across all main topics in the agenda. It is my view that the private sector will need to take the lead in climate action and decarbonisation. For this to happen more focus needs to go on how to further monetise decarbonisation and green supply chain management so that profits from climate action can flow back as further investment in it. 

Conclusion: COP29 aimed high but fell short

COP29 has been a crucial step in advancing global climate goals, with key developments in carbon markets, NDC commitments, and the just transition. However, across all of these areas the resulting agreements are significantly short of what’s necessary. The true test will be turning these agreements into real, measurable actions; that along with the private sector’s more leading role in leading by example to drive meaningful change.

Perhaps, with Brasil at the presidency of COP30 things will be different. The country’s leadership has already voiced their commitment to a far more ambitious deal next year. That benign said, COP30 will also be heavily influenced by the second Trump term as US president. In the meantime, our job is to push our elected officials locally for more actionable policies, and a collaborative effort to tackle climate change effectively; and to couple that with a more conscious and responsible consumer behaviour.  

I encourage you to watch my video to dive deeper into the key themes of this summit.