Is the UK leading or lagging on climate at COP29?

The first week of climate negotiations at COP29 in Baku revealed a leadership vacuum, with five G7 leaders skipping the event. The UK has emerged as a key player, aiming to balance urgency with ambition. Here, edie highlights the UK’s key climate action announcements from Azerbaijan.

Published 16th November 2024

Scientists warned ahead of COP29 that 2024 is on track to be the first year with global temperatures more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, a milestone of the Paris Agreement.

They urged world leaders to heed this wake-up call and significantly accelerate global climate action.

However, as the first week of the UN climate conference progressed, climate leadership waned, with only two G7 leaders attending the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, one of them being the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

A new UK NDC

In his speech, Starmer announced a new UK pledge to cut emissions by 81% by 2035, based on a 1990 baseline. This target, recommended by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) last month, will headline an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement for the UK.

NDCs outline each UN member state’s plan to reduce emissions and limit global temperature rise, with all nations required to submit updated NDCs by February 2025. The UK is the only G7 country to commit to a new goal.

The optics this year for the UK couldn’t be further than last. At COP28 in Dubai last December, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was on the ground for mere hours and severely limited his media engagements. Some critics noted he likely spent more time in private jets than at the summit itself.

Moreover, last year, former Energy Minister Graham Stuart, who led UK negotiations at COP28, left early to vote on the Tory party’s controversial Rwanda bill, attracting criticism from green groups. This year, Energy Security and Net-Zero Secretary Ed Miliband is leading the UK’s delegation at COP29 and will stay for the full duration of the negotiations, which is expected to conclude on Friday 22 November.

Robust key negotiating goals

Earlier this week, Miliband outlined the UK’s key negotiating priorities for COP29, which include urging other countries to submit their updated NDCs ahead of the February 2025 deadline. He highlighted the need for these NDCs to reflect greater ambition, in line with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C.

The UK will also push for progress on establishing a global adaptation goal, ensuring that nations are better prepared to cope with the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

Another priority is securing agreement on a new, quantified collective climate finance goal (NCQG), setting clear targets for financial contributions from wealthier nations.

Finally, Miliband’s team will focus on advancing the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund, a crucial mechanism agreed upon at last year’s COP to support vulnerable countries already facing the effects of climate change.

Ahead of the summit, which began on Monday (11 November), Miliband said: “Britain is back in the business of climate leadership because the only way to protect current generations in the UK is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, and the only way to protect our children and future generations is by leading global climate action.”

Finance for the global energy transition

As part of its goal to become a ‘clean energy superpower,’ the UK Government announced plans this week to introduce legislation banning new coal mine licenses. This will be enacted as soon as possible.

In October, the UK became the first G7 nation to close its last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe on Soar, eliminating coal from its electricity generation. Coal’s share of the UK’s electricity has dropped from 40% in 2012 to zero.

Domestically, the UK is aiming for a clean power grid by 2030, a target recently confirmed as achievable by the National Energy System Operator (NESO), which could lower electricity costs and enhance energy security.

On an international level, Miliband unveiled an array of new funding to help emerging and developing economies to decarbonise energy systems.

This funding will assist climate-vulnerable countries, including African nations and small island states, in developing low-carbon technologies such as energy storage, zero-emission generators and clean transport, while also supporting innovations to decarbonise industries such as steel, chemicals and cement.

Key funding pledges include £45m for the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme; £15m for clean energy innovation through Innovate UK; £14m for industrial decarbonisation with UNIDO, and £5m to help developing countries reduce methane emissions.

This package is part of the UK’s £11.6bn International Climate Finance commitment for 2021-2026, drawn from the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, with at least £3bn dedicated to nature-based projects and £1.5bn for forest protection and restoration.

Miliband said: “This funding commitment from the UK is what we mean when we say we are back in the business of climate leadership, supporting the world’s most vulnerable and unlocking the global growth benefits of decarbonising economies.”

Support for climate-vulnerable nations

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has also been at COP29, to unveil recently unveiled a series of new initiatives.

Key announcements include a £9.1m funding commitment for local scientists working to safeguard the Congo Basin, home to the world’s largest tropical peatlands. The UK has also launched a new initiative to support forest tenure rights for Indigenous and local communities in the Amazon Basin, recognising their essential role in forest conservation.

Also, Lammy revealed a £100m investment into British International Investment’s Mobilisation Facility, designed to attract up to £500m in private capital for climate projects in developing nations.

The UK has additionally pledged approximately £220m guarantee to the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IFCAP) initiative, aimed at unlocking $1.2bn in climate finance.

Further supporting vulnerable countries, the UK is providing £10m to the Global Environment Facility for adaptation finance to Small Island Developing States and £5.3m to the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance initiative, to help Pacific nations prepare for extreme weather events.

Lammy said: “Britain is back as a leader on the climate crisis because this is how we motivate global action to deliver security and clean growth at home, as well as protect our planet for future generations.”

Miliband’s support for Carbon Literacy Action Day

Miliband expressed strong support for The Carbon Literacy Project’s fourth annual Carbon Literacy Action Day (CLAD) during COP29.

Carbon Literacy training equips professionals – from the C-suite to junior staff – with the tools they need to understand the root causes of the climate crisis and the practical changes they can make to reduce emissions at individual, community and organisational levels.

He said: “I am a massive fan of the Carbon Literacy Project. Obviously, international summits are vital to deliver the progress we need to protect our future generations, but it’s also the case that will only succeed by engaging people right across our society.

“That’s why Carbon Literacy training for me is so powerful.”

The Carbon Literacy Action Day, the world’s largest global mass training event, brings together individuals from all sectors and nations to complete a day of Carbon Literacy training.

Participants who finish the course are certified as Carbon Literate and make pledges to reduce their carbon footprints. Last year, more than 2,300 individuals from more than 225 organisations across 12 countries took part.

This year, the event aimed to expand its reach, engaging even more participants worldwide. The Carbon Literacy Project has now certified more than 100,000 individuals globally.

All of this comes from just the first week of COP29, with much more to unfold as the conference continues. However, the general consensus is that the UK has made notable progress compared to last year, with significant opportunities to further strengthen its leadership.

Additionally, while the UK’s ambitious NDC and finance pledges have been widely praised by environmental groups, there is growing pressure for the country to translate this ambition into more immediate and impactful action.