COP29: Trump’s Re-Election Casts Shadow Over Climate Talks

The UN's annual climate summit has begun in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, drawing thousands of representatives from around the world to the South Caucasus for two weeks of negotiations on addressing the climate crisis.

COP, short for Conference of the Parties, refers to meetings held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—a multilateral treaty adopted in 1992.

Since the UNFCCC came into effect in 1994, it has paved the way for significant agreements like the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Climate Agreement (2015), which aims to keep global temperature rise within 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

However, this year’s summit is overshadowed by the re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, who has again expressed intentions to withdraw from the landmark Paris Agreement.

The United States sought to reassure the world of its climate commitment after Donald Trump's election, acknowledging that his presidency may slow global climate action but won't reverse the progress made.

"Are we facing new headwinds? Absolutely. But will we revert to the 1950s energy system? No way... This fight for a cleaner, safer planet is bigger than one election," said John Podesta, senior advisor on climate policy, on the opening day of COP29 in Baku.