COP 29 Summit

Climate Fallout Exacerbated by the Trump Administration

By: Rohan Jayaraman

In November 2024, 50,000 delegates from around the world gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan for the United Nations (UN) Climate Conference of the Parties (COP). With the US election around the corner, tensions remained high as lower income countries looked specifically to this summit for climate financing. However, developed nations failed to meet these ambitious needs as their pledge fell short of the expectations of the developing world. While a deal was eventually reached, the COP 29 summit highlighted the bitter climate policy tensions between developed and developing nations, failed to address key environmental demands, and will face further challenges due to the long-term consequences of Trump’s climate policies.

Going into the summit, delegates hoped this would become “the finance COP,” where countries could cooperate on climate funding to help scale zero-carbon initiatives in developing nations. Recent studies have shown that the world is on track for a temperature increase of 2.6-3.1℃ by the end of the century, significantly higher than the 1.5℃ goal agreed in the Paris Agreement. Lower income countries are also disproportionately affected by these emissions even though 75% of the growth in emissions has come from the developed world. Therefore, this COP summit proved critical for both finding strategies to reduce CO2 emissions and allocate more resources to underdeveloped nations to help combat climate change. Historically, developing countries received $100bn for their environmental needs, and they were aiming for a settlement increase up to $1tn at this COP summit. However, after multiple near-fallouts throughout negotiations, both sides agreed on a final deal of $300bn in climate financing by 2035—an improvement on the previous pledge but still significantly short of the original goal. 

​​

World Leaders Gather at the COP 29 Climate Summit

This short sighted package was overshadowed by Donald Trump’s impending presidency. With many nations hesitant over the global climate outlook, leaders scrambled to agree to a deal before Trump took office. In a time for global climate cooperation, geopolitical uncertainty and division jeopardized environmental initiatives and highlighted the inequality between nations in emissions and proportional funding. If this tension continues, climate discussions will remain polarized and fail to address the core needs of vulnerable communities. 

Another major summit talking point was the selection of Azerbaijan as the host nation. This event is the third COP summit in a row held by a fossil fuel-producing country—Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has described oil and gas as a “gift from God.” While the summit should be centered around strategies to address the climate crisis, the host nation often plays a significant role in setting the agenda and driving the overall impact of the conference. Following disappointing summits in Egypt and the UAE, many delegates are beginning to doubt COP’s effectiveness in developing tangible climate progress as the issues only become more urgent and impactful. If future negotiations fail with fossil fuel interests prioritized through the summit, the UN will need to reevaluate their climate discussion strategies. Climate action is becoming more critical every year, and the UN must hand the COP driving seat to nations with a vested interest in improving climate efforts to encourage more effective summits.

The looming Trump administration cast an ominous shadow on COP’s spiralling climate negotiations. After recent setbacks with developed nations at the core of navigating the climate emergency, Donald Trump’s environmental policies present major hurdles to global climate efforts. Already the world’s largest producer of oil, the United States under Trump has pressured OPEC to increase US oil output and roll back many climate initiatives of the Biden administration. Having already pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement and reversed the Green New Deal, other countries can expect less American aid and cooperation over the next four years of climate discussions. The road beyond COP 29 became more complicated as delegates lobbied for prolonged climate policies with the hope that the subsequent US administration can help alleviate the climate burden. The world has no faith in Donald Trump to be a champion for the environment. Donald Trump has said that Biden’s initiatives to support “climate-smart infrastructure” in developing economies “steer American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance.” Trump’s administration has made it clear that they want to withdraw from the global climate fight, leaving other countries scrambling to find other sources of climate financing.

With America’s impending absence in climate efforts, developing nations are looking to a new global superpower to lead them through the climate crisis. Recently, China and India leveraged the summit to rally lower income countries and critique the US for their lack of climate financing. Both nations were vocally critical of the revamped deal and blamed the developed world for their lack of proactivity in putting forward climate initiatives. As the COP summit heads to Brazil in November 2025, countries will need to act with more urgency through climate negotiations to have a chance at meeting the Paris Agreement Goals. However, as Brazil is the eighth largest oil producer in the world, it might prove challenging to steer discussions to core climate issues, similarly to other recent summits. The climate crisis is only becoming more urgent, and countries need to put political interests aside to have productive negotiations and implement tangible, equitable strategies to address core environmental issues.