COP29 President-designate Mukhtar Babayev takes part in an interview with The Associated Press at the Azerbaijan embassy in Washington on Thursday, April 18, 2024. COP29 President-designate Mukhtar Babayev takes part in an interview with The Associated Press at the Azerbaijan embassy in Washington on Thursday, April 18, 2024. COP29 President-designate Mukhtar Babayev takes part in an interview with The Associated Press at the Azerbaijan embassy in Washington on Thursday, April 18, 2024.
Most past climate negotiations — called Conferences of the Parties or COPs — had years to plan. But because of the geopolitics of eastern Europe, world leaders couldn’t agree far in advance where COP29 would be. That’s critical because the host country holds the presidency and sets the agenda.Babayev won’t officially take charge of negotiations until Nov. 11 when COP29 opens in Baku.
But there is one general goal: More financial help for the developing world to shift to cleaner energy systems, and to cope with the extra heat, floods, storms and droughts worsened by climate change.