Global CO2 Emissions Expected To Hit Record High In 2024
Photo Credit: Alexander Nemenov via Getty Images
The world's largest climate summit, COP29, concluded in Azerbaijan on Nov. 24. Nearly 200 countries and 70 thousand participants gathered to discuss climate change policy, with a focus on finance. This conference called on all regions to work toward enabling a record total of $1.3 trillion in yearly financial aid for developing countries by 2035, which will be directed toward reducing carbon footprints and transitioning to low-carbon pathways.
Among the biggest accomplishments was an agreement to adopt a new finance goal of at least USD$300 billion in annual funding for developing countries by 2035. This is triple the previous target of USD$100 billion annually through 2020–2025, and is meant to help recipients recover from escalating climate disasters.
However, leading economists such as Ani Dasgupta, the CEO of the World Resources Institute, argue that USD$300 billion by 2035 is not enough for developing countries to pursue a low-carbon economy and protect their citizens from mounting droughts, floods, and wildfires.
Another climate fund discussed at COP29 was the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), which saw a USD$85 million contribution from seven countries. The Adaptation Fund also received an additional USD$63 million from Germany, bringing the fund’s total value to around USD$1.2 billion.
“Climate change often hits poorer countries, which are not responsible for the high CO2 emissions of industrialized nations, particularly hard,” said Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a news release. “It is therefore only fair that the costs of adapting to climate change be widely shared and that wealthy countries like Germany pay more.”
In order to reach their goals, countries agreed upon a “Baku to Belém Roadmap” — with Belém hosting COP in 2025. Not only does the plan encompass guidelines for raising additional funds, but it also addresses financial equality and access. However, the final “Baku to Belém Roadmap” draft has few tangible elements to ensure that funds reach the most vulnerable countries.
The agreement does not set specific finance targets based on regions, income levels, or provide examples of specific climate change initiatives that should be financed, such as drought recovery. As a result, some of the poorest nations are concerned that they won’t receive enough financial aid.
Additionally, participating parties at COP29 failed to negotiate multiple non-financial agreements, which will now be discussed at COP30. These include a global treaty to limit plastic pollution and the implementation of Global Stocktake (GST), a process that tracks progress on achieving the Paris Agreement’s targets.
Several reports were also central themes at COP29. The Global Carbon Budget Report, on which over 80 institutions collaborated, was published during the summit and predicts global CO2 emissions at 41.6 billion metric tons for 2024. This is a record high, up from 40.6 billion tons in 2023.
The increase is mainly due to the burning of coal, oil, and gas; however deforestation and forest fires also created significant emissions.“We don’t see a sign of fossil fuel emissions peaking in 2024,” said lead author Pierre Friedlingstein, a climate scientist at the University of Exeter.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, in an attempt to avoid deadly repercussions.
The report, however, has highlighted that although certain countries are rapidly expanding their renewable energy and electric car industries, many experts do not believe that the 1.5℃ limit is still within reach. Astronomical emission cuts would be require starting immediately, and continuing for decades to come.
“Global emissions need to be cut 60 per cent below 2019 levels by 2035,” stated the World Resources Institute. “These steps are essential to accelerating progress toward a safer, more prosperous future for all.”