The window to secure a livable future is rapidly closing.

In the past year alone, devastating floods ravaged Kenya and Brazil. Blistering heat killed dozens in India. Bogotá and Mexico City nearly ran out of water due to extreme drought. The heart-wrenching list of climate-related disasters grows day by day.

Addressing these and other escalating climate change impacts requires slashing greenhouse gas emissions across every economic sector, conserving and restoring nature, and protecting the world’s most vulnerable communities by helping them adapt and build resilience. While the benefits of this transition will far outweigh the costs, achieving it will require major upfront investments. Research shows developing countries alone will need around a trillion dollars per year in international finance by 2030 to meet climate and nature goals.

The annual UN climate summit (known as the “Conference of the Parties” to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or “COP”) is the pre-eminent forum where international climate policies are forged. The single-biggest measure of success at COP29 will be whether the world can mobilize more money to invest in a safe and prosperous future.

Why Is COP29 Such an Important Moment?

COP29 has been dubbed the “Finance COP.” For the first time in 15 years, representatives from every country will set a new global climate finance goal, known as the “new collective quantified climate finance goal,” or NCQG. It will replace a target set in 2009, where wealthy nations agreed to collectively mobilize $100 billion annually by 2020 to help developing nations both reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change impacts.

The 2009 commitment recognized the fact that lower-income nations did little to cause the climate crisis yet face the brunt of its effects. At the same time, they have the fewest resources to invest in building a resilient, inclusive and low-emissions future. While developed countries may have finally met the $100 billion annual target in 2022, it is now clear that this falls far short of the level and quality of support developing countries require. For example, the finance gap for adaptation alone is estimated at $194-$366 billion per year — and that’s only part of what’s needed.

COP29 offers an opportunity to unlock more climate investments from a wider range of public and private sources and to improve the quality of this finance. An ambitious new finance goal is essential for ensuring that all countries can afford the solutions so urgently needed to support communities, grow economies, and curb the increase in dangerous and costly droughts, floods and wildfires. Leaders must come to COP29 prepared to present a coherent set of financing solutions, including significantly raising the amount of money they provide. They must ensure that more of this money goes to the poorest and most vulnerable countries and communities — and on favorable terms that don’t burden them with unsustainable debt.

A strong outcome in Baku will not only help developing countries secure the resources they need to confront escalating climate impacts; it can also empower them to set bolder emissions-reduction and adaptation targets and pursue more ambitious climate action. And it can help build the trust between nations that’s necessary for solving a global problem like climate change.

WRI’s experts will be closely tracking developments during and in the run-up to COP29. We aim to raise awareness of what’s at stake, showcase solutions and help secure progress by the end of the summit. Check this hub regularly for new articles, research, events and other resources.

Cover image by Eric Nathan/Alamy Stock Photo