I arrived in Baku ready to support the AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) delegation with 3 objectives: 

  1. Achieve a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) target of at least USD 1 trillion per year 
  2. Have a set percentage of the NCQG be reserved for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
  3. Have the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage be part of the NCQG fund

We achieved none of these objectives. There was a presentation at the Oceans Pavilion led by ministers from Fiji and Palau, where they spent the entirety of the presentation flipping through images of islands that would be underwater by 2060. I made it a point to attend as many of the events led by delegates from SIDS as the negotiations schedule allowed, knowing that I could offer data solutions to some of the issues presented. I also did it wishing to find some hope for myself – that perhaps things were not as bad as I thought they were. Unfortunately, that hope was in short supply. It was hard to return to Durham without feeling some sense of despondence.

Coming into COP29, I knew achieving even one of these 3 objectives would be a tall order. I was always surprised to hear the relatively little importance given to the ‘climate finance COP’. Just by its very nature, the NCQG was always going to be contentious no matter what COP it was a part of. Creating and mobilizing a large, global, central fund for projects with risky to no returns on investment goes against so many fundamental principles of international trade and economics. Why would countries ever discuss, let alone sign up, for something like this? And yet, here we are, having had a year’s worth of discussion on this economics-defying fund, all because some individuals had the audacity to move the goalposts and advocate for contentious issues (like a Loss and Damage fund). I take some solace in that fact. 

On my last day at COP, I sat next to an environmental minister from South Sudan on the bus, his upbeat smile in stark contrast with my slouched shoulders. He had just exchanged contacts with a researcher from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and was looking forward to partnering with him and raising awareness of the ocean’s weather impacts in landlocked South Sudan. 

While there should be more conferences like it, COP remains the one place where vulnerable countries can build access to the knowledge and resources they need to survive. Even though climate finance gaps remain unanswered till COP30, the technology and knowledge gaps can be bridged now. The work to empower countries and communities with the necessary knowledge and technologies to mitigate and adapt to climate change does not stop at COP – as a favorite comedian of mine once said, it is a lunch pail job day in and day out. See you tomorrow, ready to work.