After nearly 24 hours of travel and a scant night of sleep, I was fueled by my last drops of adrenaline as we approached the entrance to COP29 in Azerbaijan. In preparing for the day, I had been optimistic about diving into meetings, learning about Article 6 negotiations, and engaging with eager members of civil society. In reality the day moved a bit slowly, with delegations, coalitions, and the event space itself using this time to prepare for the week ahead. Below are three first impressions from this day of commencement and continued preparation.

  1. It feels like IKEA

COP29 is being held in Baku Stadium, a sports arena currently retrofitted for this major climate convention. The stadium is parsed into large hallways, meeting rooms, and press spaces using temporary construction materials.

The pavilions – where each participating country creates a hub for information and events – feel like IKEA’s main showroom. Nations have set up their living rooms for the week in this large warehouse space. But instead of fluffy couches, each setup has four panelist chairs facing a handful of seats for a modest audience. As a bonus, many countries have set up interactive displays and small coffee bars along the perimeter. Some countries (like the United States) were yet to complete the construction of their pavilion space, while China and Japan immediately offered heavily-staffed and highly-interactive hubs.

  1. Space is limited and people are eager

Today’s main event was a plenary session in which the UN provided opening information on the upcoming negotiations for the week relating to the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement. These opening sessions have earned fame for being the place of groundbreaking Day 1 announcements, such as the announcement of last year’s Loss and Damage Fund.

Attendees were clearly excited, and lines to get into the event space were long and chaotic. Security guards worked hard to maintain order as crowds tried to cram themselves through bottlenecked entrance areas. In the end, it appeared that most people (including myself) did not make it into this plenary session. It will be interesting to see if a lack of space plays a continued role in the upcoming two weeks of COP29.

  1. Side meetings are worth the time

At 9:00 am, I attended RINGO’s daily morning meeting. RINGO is the organization of research and independent NGOs represented at COP and stands as a neutral body throughout the negotiations, with its members providing advice to party members in an individual capacity. This meeting connected me with other students and academics tracking Article 6 negotiations and exposed me to a network of email lists and WhatsApp groups that would help provide access and information throughout the rest of the day (and the rest of the week). If nothing else, today’s engagement with RINGO was an extremely useful starting point in understanding how to navigate COP29 going forward.

—

As I look ahead to the rest of the week, I am curious to see how delegations at COP29 are able to address the highly consequential climate issues on the agenda. Will space constraints lead to negotiation delays? Will the United States’ lame duck delegation have a voice at the table? Will all delegations move with urgency given recent news of the earth’s 1.5 degree warming? I’m hopeful that the days to come show progress, cooperation, and understanding on the pressing issues that we have all traveled so far to discuss.