Frontline Communities Outline Clear Goals at COP29‍

From a Global Climate Reparations working statement rooted in Black and Indigenous liberation to campaigns for debt cancellation, equitable resources to address loss and damage, and calls to end carbon markets,  frontline communities across the globe set forth very clear goals and directions for climate justice at COP 29 in Baku. Unfortunately, the vision and leadership of the frontlines were met with another year of failed leadership and purposeful exclusion by political leaders from the United States, Europe, and other Global North nations to address the climate crisis. Once again, these very nations fell devastatingly short at meeting their critical obligations under the Paris Agreement.

Climate Finance and the Global North's Accountability

At this year’s COP 29, climate finance was the major topic on the agenda.The debate focused specifically on how much the Global North should contribute to the Global South’s efforts to advance climate solutions. This is an important conversation, given that the majority of the Global North’s corporations and governments—especially the United States—have advanced practices of energy extraction, land-grabs, consumerism, and wealth hoarding, which caused this crisis at the expense of the lives of frontline communities. Holding COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan—a country with a significant fossil fuel economy—symbolized the continued acceptance of extractive interests over the voices of the people most impacted by the climate crisis. For frontline communities, this choice of venue not only reflects the ongoing exclusion from decision-making spaces and collective governance, but also raises concerns about accessibility, safety, and the overshadowing influence of fossil fuel industries. For decades, this wealth and resource extraction has left climate frontlines vulnerable to the impacts. These impacts—which include land loss, increased deaths due to heat and preventable disease, drought, extreme wildfires, and extreme weather—have wreaked havoc on Black, Indigenous and poor communities from the Gulf South to the Global South, with little recourse for repair or investment from the very nations and corporations that caused this crisis. 

Debating The Cost of The Climate Crises
‍
Multiple studies have estimated the crisis costs at least $5 trillion—a number that frontline communities have advocated for as the New Collective Quantified Goals (NCQG). However, the Global North countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany refused to engage in discussions for months around a number (known as the “quantum”). In an effort to reach agreement, the Global South countries already compromised from $5 trillion to a $1.3 trillion goal. When the negotiations at COP 29 hit week two, the Global North finally presented a number, an extreme lowball offer that was laughed out of the room by Global South countries. 

A Flawed Agreement

But this is no laughing matter. The $300 billion (total) per year by 2035 adopted in Baku is unacceptable. $300 billion is a mere 6% of $5 trillion in costs. To add insult to injury, Global North countries secured a massive “escape hatch” from their legal obligations to provide financial resources to Global South countries. The Baku agreements included vague and unclear language around how much of the $300 billion would be publicly provided dollars, versus private loans paid through Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) that often continue to extract frontline communities through interest and rigid structures. 

Failures in Leadership and Trust
‍
These actions show a complete failure of leadership from Global North leaders. These leaders’ refusal to engage meaningfully in this process—alongside the more than 1700 fossil fuel lobbyists flooding the halls—remind us that the frontlines must be in the position of power and decision-making in these processes. Time and again deadlines have been missed, promises broken and justice deferred. The failure to secure a strong agreement on climate finance this year is eroding trust in the UN climate negotiations process—potentially beyond repair.

The Call for Global Climate Reparations

The obstruction of Global North countries in the climate negotiations is not only undermining justice, but also threatening our global survival. Spaces like the UNFCCC—which should be the preeminent public space for communities to address the crisis—are being overrun by fossil and financial interests. COP 29 has shown us that those who have perpetrated this crisis will find ways to escape accountability for the devastating impacts of their actions on a planetary scale. This injustice cannot continue. Now is the time for Global Climate Reparations—as called for by the frontlines at the Global Climate Reparations Governance Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya:

“[Global] Climate reparations is the restoration of healthy and balanced relationships with all that comprise a shared global ecosystem. Reparative action begins with those who benefit most from the historic and current systems of oppression. It requires the abolition of debt, restitution for injustice and the establishment of accountable systems rooted in Black and Indigenous liberation for all oppressed people and future generations.”‍

Now is the time to demand a deep and radical transformation of the relationships and power dynamics at the heart of these global negotiations. If Global North countries do not move forward with a commitment to repair the harm they have done, they will continue to pass a death sentence on billions of people across the planet. Alternatively, redemption is possible. On the road to COP 30, the Global North has an opportunity to acknowledge this harm, meaningfully atone for it by answering the call for Global Climate Reparations, and contribute to repairing our planet and help ensure our collective and intertwined survival.  

“ Our country had a unique opportunity to be good global citizens at this year’s climate talks and we missed our shot. The US in particular had an opportunity to account for being the largest historical emitter of climate accelerating greenhouse gases, but instead chose to cement Global North power and boost profits of multi-national corporations. COP29 affirmed that Global North countries are willing to cooperate with global extractors and polluters. Global North countries aligned to both escape liability, and impede progress for the Global South. Yet, while COP29 negotiators failed the frontlines, movement leaders from around the world gathered to advance a frontline vision for climate reparations that build power across borders. My hope is that Taproot Earth’s continued work advances efforts to develop a definition of climate finance expected to take center stage at COP30 in Brazil. ”

- Colette Pichon Battle, Taproot Earth's Vision & Initiatives Partner
‍

For Further Reading

To read more about the Global Climate Reparations Governance Assembly, you can find the report here.

To read more about the Community Control Fund, you can find the report here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‍

‍