UN Climate Conference falls short, but the fight for nature continues
Two weeks of fraught UN climate change negotiations have concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan. The final deal is far from addressing the scale, urgency and inequity of the climate emergency. Hopes now turn to the next Climate COP hosted by Brazil in 2025.
By Cathy Yitong Li, Sarah Brady, and Noelle Kumpel
Two weeks of fraught UN climate change negotiations have concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan. Overrunning by 30 hours, tense disagreements over climate finance led to walkouts and ultimately inadequate outcomes. The final deal is far from addressing the scale, urgency and inequity of the climate emergency, especially for the most vulnerable communities, peoples and wildlife.
COP29 fails to deliver for people and nature
Branded as ‘the finance COP’, the top mission of the Conference of the Parties to the UN climate change convention – COP29 – was to secure an ambitious and equitable global climate finance goal. It was a rushed-through decision formally denounced by civil society and governments. Reference to the crucial role of nature was deleted and disappointingly the deal doesn’t bridge the critical finance gap, nor safeguard those most impacted by the crises.
The impacts of climate change warned about by scientists are already here; suffering of millions of people fuelled by a stream of natural disasters, disruptions to food supplies and the loss of nature on a global scale.
Nature can deliver over 30% of the climate solutions by 2030 to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C, a key goal of the Paris Agreement on climate agreed in 2015. “Protecting and restoring nature is vital to preventing the escalation of the climate and nature crisis. We cannot keep 1.5°C alive without it.”, highlighted Cathy Yitong Li, Senior Climate & Energy Policy Manager at BirdLife International.
COP29 was a critical opportunity to strengthen connected climate and nature action, as outlined in our BirdLife International COP29 Position and Nature4Climate COP29 Statement. However, nature was largely absent on all fronts.
“The COP29 deal is clearly inadequate and it fails to acknowledge the vital role that nature plays in our response to the climate crisis. We came to Baku to push for faster and stronger climate action by countries, with nature at its heart. Governments chose to ignore the urgency of speeding up climate action and ultimately failed to use this opportunity to mitigate the crisis. This deal has only raised the stakes for next year’s crucial meeting in Brazil. Before then, governments must demonstrate that they are serious in tackling the nature and climate emergency by submitting ambitious plans that get us back on track. BirdLife International will continue fighting for a world where birds and all life can thrive.”
Martin Harper, CEO, BirdLife International
Header Image: © Noelle Kumpel, Senior Policy Advisor at BirdLife International
“COP29 has failed to deliver. Trust has been broken as leaders leave gaping voids in finance and ambition, putting people and planet—especially the world’s poorest—at risk. But we’ll keep fighting. The climate and nature crisis can’t wait another year.”
Melanie Coath, Principal Policy Officer – Climate Change, RSPB (BirdLife in the UK)
While governments have failed us at COP29, our efforts to bring the world back on track to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework cannot stop. Many actors in the private sector are showing ambitious climate action with companies such as Iberdrola highlighting the need for a nature-positive renewable energy transition. We also take heart from the BirdLife Partnership and our 123 national NGO Partners who are working all over the world to conserve birds and the most important places for nature.
Our hope must also turn to COP30 in Brasil, it really is our last chance to keep global warming under control and prevent the worst effects of the climate crisis. We urge the Brazilian COP30 Presidency to champion connected climate and nature action.
To achieve this governments must establish a joint work programme between the Rio Conventions, to combat climate, nature and land crises as the interconnected issues they are. At a national level nature must be integrated into national climate planning and energy transition.
Martin Harper concluded: ”There is hope that governments can still do more to solve the climate and biodiversity crisis. We must continue our fight to save nature using every possible avenue including the UN climate conferences. Nature cannot wait and the stakes couldn’t be higher.”
”The outcomes of COP29 fails to address the needs of the countries and people most affected by the climate crisis, putting our generation’s future at risk. Young people will face the worst consequences of inaction, from rising sea levels to more extreme weather and food insecurity. By ignoring these issues, the text prioritizes the fossil fuel lobby over the survival and well-being of future generations.”
Luca Ernemann, Youth Association for the Protection of Nature (NAJU), the youth section of BirdLife’s partner in Germany
“Africa, though contributing only 4% of global emissions, bears the brunt of climate impacts, from droughts to food insecurity. To address this, nature needed to be firmly embedded in the COP29 text on finance, just transition, and adaptation, and it has fallen short. For Africa, this is not just about resilience—it’s about survival. As the details are worked out, climate finance must prioritize nature-based solutions that safeguard ecosystems, empower communities, and foster sustainable development. Only then can we truly address the crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and inequality.”
Joseph Onoja, Executive Director, BirdLife Partner, Nigerian Conservation Foundation
