Press release
Irish delegation travels to COP29 in Baku
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
The Irish delegation has travelled to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, which commenced on 11 November.
The Irish delegation will seek to continue the progress made at COP28 (held in Dubai last year) on key issues such as agreeing a ‘New Collective Quantified Goal’ on climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage and, crucially, delivering greater mitigation ambition, including ensuring implementation of the UAE Consensus.
Ireland recognises that COP is the most important global gathering to discuss climate change and climate action. The Irish Government strongly believes in tackling global challenges through multilateral forums and has been actively pushing for stronger climate action through various avenues.
The conference takes place from 11 to 22 November. Minister Eamon Ryan is leading Ireland’s national climate delegation once again. The delegation is made up of officials from across government and several agencies. For the third year, Ireland is also represented by a Climate Youth Delegate, Beth Doherty, who was appointed to the role in May of this year.
Minister Ryan has been appointed by the COP29 Presidency to act as one half of a ministerial pair for adaptation. He will be joined in this work by Franz Tattenbach, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica. This is the first time that an Irish Minister has been appointed to such a position.
Throughout these international climate negotiations, Ireland works closely with our European Union partners. Many members of the Irish delegation are also members of EU expert groups on issues such as science, mitigation, finance, adaptation, loss and damage, and gender, where the EU's negotiation positions for COP are prepared over several months. Ireland is also active through its climate diplomacy, with participation in groups such as the EU Climate Envoys, the Champions Group on Adaptation Finance and the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action.
ENDS
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the main decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It brings together the 198 Parties — 197 nations plus the European Union — that have signed on the Framework Convention to agree actions to tackle the climate crisis.
Since 1995, with the exception of 2020 due to the pandemic, COPs have been hosted annually for countries to gather to review progress compared with the latest climate science, and set new commitments on both preventing and adapting to the climate crisis, as well as how these actions can be implemented, including through the provision of finance and capacity building. COP Summits see leaders from all over the world come together to find solutions to a crisis that affects us all.
Climate finance refers to financing that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions in response to climate change. Ireland recognises that without adequate climate finance, it will not be possible to tackle the climate crisis.
COP29, Baku, is expected to deliver an agreement on a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), to replace the previous goal, which saw developed country parties commit to deliver $100 billion in climate finance per year, through both public climate finance and the mobilisation of climate finance. This goal was reached in 2022, as set out in May 2024 by the OECD. The NCQG will replace this goal for post-2025.
Climate mitigation refers to measures aimed at reducing the impact of climate change. A consistent priority of the EU is the need for all countries, particularly large emitting economies, to scale up climate ambition and targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Adaptation refers to taking action to adapt to the present and future impacts of climate change. Many countries across the world are already feeling severe impacts of climate change. Developing countries require scaled-up, targeted support to strengthen their resilience against climate impacts.
Loss and damage relates to the negative effects of climate change that occur despite mitigation and adaptation efforts. Climate-induced loss and damage is a key priority area for Ireland’s work on climate change, recognising that vulnerable countries that have contributed the least to climate change are suffering the most from its impact.
Ministerial pairings see a Minister from a developed country and a Minister from a developing country work together as part of the wider COP presidency team to negotiate with countries and blocs like the Small Island Developing States or the EU to help reach agreement on the final COP text.
The pairings are tasked with understanding more about where these blocs stand on current priorities and perspectives, and then identifying possible opportunities and barriers to help facilitate progress on each key issue. This appointment follows from the Minister’s previous roles as part of the EU negotiating team at COP26, COP27 and COP28.