As always with COP meetings, deadlines come and go before final agreements are made, and COP29 in Baku proved no different.

Ultimately, the conference agreed to the Baku Finance Goal (BFG), a new commitment to channel US$1.3-trillion of climate finance to the developing world each year. The Goal contains a core target for developed countries to take the lead on mobilising at least US$300-billion per year for developing countries by 2035. This represents a $50-billion increase on the previous draft text. It pays special consideration to support the least-developed countries and small island developing states, with provisions on accessibility and transparency.

COP29 also ended the decade-long wait for the conclusion of Article 6 negotiations on high integrity carbon markets under the UN. Financial flows from compliant carbon markets could reach $1-trillion per year by 2050. They also have the potential to reduce the cost of implementing national climate plans by $250-billion per year.