ActionAid will be at COP29, and together with other civil society organizations, it will be pushing rich polluting countries to deliver the much-needed climate finance to avert the runaway climate crisis.
Ahead of COP29 next week, ActionAid is now laying out its 5 ‘policy asks’ for COP to deliver climate action.
ActionAid’s delegation of expert spokespeople, women, and youth activists from the Global South are available for media interviews, briefings, and commentary throughout COP.
ActionAid’s key asks for COP29
- Climate Finance: COP29 must agree on a New Collective Quantified Goal on finance (NCQG) in which developed countries provide at least $1 trillion annually in grant-based public funding to developing countries, with specific sub-goals for loss and damage, adaptation, and mitigation. This climate finance must reach local communities, prioritize gender responsiveness and human rights, and involve marginalized groups in decision-making. It’s crucial to clearly define climate finance to exclude loans and private investment and to reflect developed countries’ historical responsibility and moral obligations.
- Adaptation: COP29 must give adaptation the attention it has lacked for years and provide the financing developing countries need to adapt to the climate crisis. It is time governments agreed on the framework, finance and indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation. COP29 must champion equitable finance that entails the allocation of public finance for adaptation and agroecology, prioritises women, local communities, workers, and ecosystems.
- Carbon Markets & Article 6: COP29 must finalize strong, enforceable rules for carbon markets. Carbon offsets are a dangerous distraction, as they essentially provide a license to pollute and delay real action to cut emissions. They only benefit polluting countries and corporations, often leading to land grabs, leaving climate-vulnerable countries to deal with the consequences. There must be rules to reduce the harm and greenwash from carbon markets.
- Gender: To effectively address the diverse impacts of climate change on women and to support and strengthen women’s leadership in climate action, gender considerations must be mainstreamed across all UNFCCC negotiation tracks. This includes establishing clear indicators and timeframes for tracking progress, utilizing gender-disaggregated data, and adopting an intersectional feminist perspective in climate policies. To ensure the successful implementation of these measures, it is essential to secure adequate resources for the next Gender Action Plan (GAP) and strengthen the capacity and financial support for National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points.
- Agriculture: Agriculture is the sector most vulnerable to climate change, and the world’s largest employer, but industrial agriculture is also the second largest contributor to global GHG emissions. Agriculture issues are a topic for discussion across several negotiation tracks, including the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint work on agriculture, Global Goal on Adaptation, Just Transition Work Programme, and the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), in addition to various initiatives and announcements. Countries must divest from harmful industrialized agriculture and invest in agroecology, and Global South countries need finances to make a move to agroecology.
ActionAid Spokespeople at COP
- Teresa Anderson: ActionAid International’s Climate Justice Lead. Teresa is the head of the delegation and lead spokesperson at COP29. Topics include – Climate finance, climate impacts, loss and damage, agriculture, adaptation, gender, fossil fuels, carbon offsets and net-zero technologies, just transition, debt, tax justice, financial flows including subsidies, banking, and Article 2.1c.
- Brandon Wu: Senior Policy Analyst, ActionAid USA (At COP29 on week 2). Topics include – U.S. elections and positions, equity, climate finance, loss and damage fund.
- Farah Kabir: Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh. Topics include – Climate impacts in Bangladesh, loss and damage, the need for climate finance, and gender.
- Dulali Begum: Community member from Bangladesh (At COP29 on week 1). Topics include – Climate impacts at the community level, gender and women’s leadership, local impacts of coal developments.
- Zahra Hdidou: Senior Resilience and Climate Advisor, ActionAid UK. Topics include – climate finance, adaptation, gender, loss and damage.
- Flora Vano: Country Program Manager for ActionAid Vanuatu. Topics include – Climate impacts in the Pacific, loss and damage, women’s leadership, and fossil fuels.
- Susan Otieno: Executive Director at ActionAid International Kenya. Topics include – Climate impacts in Kenya, gendered impacts and women’s leadership, need for climate finance.
- Michelle Higelin: Country Director at ActionAid Australia. Topics include – Australian positions, gendered impacts and women’s leadership, climate finance obligations of developed countries,
- Hamdi Benslama: EU Advocacy Advisor. Topics include – EU obligations and positions, particularly on climate finance.
- Agnes Schim van der Loeff: Policy Adviser, Climate Justice, ActionAid Netherlands. Topics include – Climate finance, Dutch and EU obligations and positions, gender, loss and damage, just transition in extractives.
- Sylia Kijangwa: Youth advocate from Tanzania (At COP29 on week 1). Topics include – Climate impacts and youth perspectives.
- Emmaqulate Kemunto: Global Campaigner (At COP29 on week 2). Topics include – Campaigns and mobilizations.
ActionAid COP29 Events
| Event | With | Date + Time (Baku time) | Location |
| Press Conference: COP29 expectations, including voices from the climate frontlines | ActionAid | Monday, November 11, 1230hrs | Press Conference 2 Area C |
| UNFCCC side event: “Why we need public finance at the heart of the new finance goal” | AA, CAN, ChristianAid, CESR, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty | Friday, November 15, 1645hrs | Side event Room 4 |
| Opening ceremony of the Humanitarian Hub | UNOCHA, ActionAid | Monday, November 18, 0900hrs | Humanitarian Hub, Blue Zone |
| Action/ photo stunt: “Climate Debt Collectors” | ActionAid | Tuesday, November 19, Time tbc | |
| Action/ photo stunt: “Giant Invoice” | ActionAid | Wednesday, November 20, Time tbc | |
| Press Conference: Climate finance – state of play | ActionAid | Thursday, November 21, 1700hrs | Press conference 2 Area C |
| ActionAid will also be releasing reactive quotes and participating in additional press conferences, side events, and actions throughout COP. Please look out for further updates. | |||
For media inquiries and engagements and to be added to our mailing list, please contact the Press Office at media-enquiries@actionaid.org or +263776665065 or +263772616506.
About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.