SAN ANTONIO – Nations from across the globe participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP for short, once every year. While the talks broadly centered on reducing global emissions, this year’s conference tackled climate financing — a process that stifled uncertainty even as the summit ended.
Here are the takeaways:
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- Despite the international landscape, climate officials in San Antonio remain focused on local mitigation efforts padded by national and global climate drivers, such as extreme heat.
- Cities and local officials will be closely monitored for their efforts in climate mitigation efforts, scholars and climate officials said.
- In the renewable energy space, Texas and California lead the nation. Yet, other forms of carbon-free energy are gaining more attention for their energy generation.
The two-week-long conference featured a spate of diplomats and policymakers from some 200 nations holding talks and setting goals to curb the effects of global warming.
While the conference exists in a microcosm, its impacts are widespread as nations across the globe work to implement ways to curb climate change.
COP: A breakdown
The Conference of Parties (COPs) is a formal meeting between governments to “assess global efforts to advance the key Paris Agreement aim of limiting global warming,” according to the United Nations website.
Governments meet to discuss ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the means to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change in their respective countries.
This year’s conference was rather interestingly hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, a state whose president gave oil and gas godhood status during the summit’s opening speech.
Some questioned the comments and the validity of the climate talks, given the country’s fixation on fossil fuels, several U.N. officials told the BBC.
Those same officials questioned the “slow-moving process” of COP summits as the climate crisis surges, they said.
Host countries are typically chosen from the five United Nations regional groups: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Carribean, and Western Europe and Others.
Baku is considered by many to be a “petrostate,” a country whose economy is primarily dependent on the export of oil and gas. The fact it was selected as a host city drew criticism.
Yet, despite that criticism, others have argued that these states need to be part of these conversations. For context, COP28 was hosted in the United Arab Emirates.
Dr. Ben Miele, an associate professor at the University of the Incarnate Word and director of the university’s sustainability program, said that dialogue between parties is critical to movement on the climate front.
“The United Nations takes a pretty curious approach to it; they deliberately are holding these meetings in oil-rich nations and allow lobbyists to join in,” Miele said. “We can’t just preach to the choir. We have to bring everybody to the table, including the lobbyists. We have to engage with all members ... all people who are interested in climate.”
Local, regional takeaways
For Texas, its alternative energy sources are surging, even as other carbon-free forms, such as nuclear power, gain steam.
Delegates in Baku and the Biden-Harris Administration detailed plans to “safely and responsibly” expand the United States' capacity for nuclear energy.
The United States plans to triple its capacity by 2050, according to a statement from The White House.
As for the renewables space:
- Texas ranks second to California in solar power generation, according to Environment Texas.
- “In fact, no state produces more renewable electricity than Texas,“ Peter Girard, vice president of communications at Climate Central, told KSAT. ”That shouldn’t surprise people, considering Texas' investment and industry expertise in generating, moving, and selling power.”
- Increasing capacity for wind and solar infrastructure across Texas is critical, Girard said. The state leads the nation in wind power generation.
- “Now that wind and sunlight are the cheapest sources of electricity in the U.S., it makes economic sense to keep building capacity,” he said.
Investment in heat mitigation is pertinent for San Antonio, especially as it comes off back-to-back hot summers. In 2024, the city experienced its fifth-hottest summer, while August 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded.
The city, through its Office of Sustainability, is working to combat the impacts of extreme heat through its Cool Pavement Program and mitigation efforts influenced by data from researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
“Innovation that helps slow global warming can have a meaningful local impact,” Girard said.
In an email to KSAT, the Office of Sustainability said it remains focused on issues at home.
“We acknowledge the uncertainty with international or national issues, but our focus is on the projects we are working on that have been approved and prioritized by city council. These projects include our ongoing solar installations and cool pavement applications,” said Chief Sustainability Officer Doug Melnick.
COP29 and climate in pre-Trump America
The United States sits in a peculiar position as COP29 ended.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement for a second time.
The agreement — a binding pledge to limit global warming among nations — was signed in 2016 at COP21.
Trump could also suspend most, if not all, of President Joe Biden’s climate initiatives, signaling a back-and-forth game of suspension and reversing under both administrations.
Such a move might force other countries to increase their efforts to reduce climate pollution but could beg the question of the need for such efforts if the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases backs down, according to Politico.
Trump has expressed interest in halting unspent clean energy funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a move that has beneficiaries on both sides of the climate and political divide raising suspicion.
Breaking down the Inflation Reduction Act
California and Texas are two states that have benefitted significantly from IRA investments overall.
While the legislation targets energy and climate investments, its scope is much broader.
- Biden signed the IRA into law on Aug. 16, 2022. The cross-department legislation targeted projects in the clean energy and climate mitigation space.
- A vast majority of funding goes toward the energy and transportation sectors, considered the top two primary drivers of pollution in America.
- IRA funding often works in tandem with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Biden signed into law on Nov. 15, 2021.
- Trump has said he would revoke unspent IRA funds when he takes office in January. While Trump did not specify which programs would be targeted, sourcing funds under the incoming administration could become difficult.
- In turn, local cities and municipalities expect to continue their work despite potential prolonged funding delays, according to reporting from Smart Cities Dive.
- “The Inflation Reduction Act is going to help Americans, period, no matter what,” Miele said.
- The IRA is “weighted toward” taxpayers who are in lower-income situations or socio-economically insecure. Miele said those who pay higher taxes are also eligible for some IRA rebates.
- “The Inflation Reduction Act is going to make profound changes in how Americans understand both climate and energy,” he said.
- As for what could happen under a new presidential administration, Miele called the provisions “partisan-proof.” He cited a letter in which 18 House Republicans sent to Speaker Mike Johnson calling for an appeal to gut clean energy tax credits granted by the IRA.
As the United States prepares for a presidential transition — including a Republican majority House and Senate — Miele looked to the last time the majority was in place and what sorts of legislation came from that period.
Activists worked in tandem with nonprofits as city mayors and governments attempted to implement climate plans to mitigate and adapt at the local level.
San Antonio’s answer during this period in 2017 was the mayor and city council’s passing of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, which Miele called “a monumental achievement.”
“That is our north star in San Antonio for how we’re gonna respond to climate change locally,” Miele said. “That would not have been possible without all the input from local activists.”
The plan was prompted by a city resolution supporting the Paris Agreement.
As for the United States' presence now, in similar circumstances to 2017 at the federal level, Miele believes a rise in nonprofits taking action and an interest from the private sector could lead the conversation.
“I think we are once again going to see a rise in nonprofits taking action, same thing at the state level and the local level,” Miele said.
Globally, however, if the United States suspends its involvement at future COPs, those talks would still progress, Girard said.
“An administration that doesn’t prioritize climate action will probably impact U.S. progress toward slowing global warming. And that includes progress in international negotiations,” Girard said. “Still, global climate talks and cooperation will keep moving forward, however the U.S. participates.”
Involvement from the United States is not the only driver at the federal level.
“Even at home, federal policy isn’t the only driver of progress on climate change. State and local actions play a role in cutting pollution, and so does private industry,” Girard said.
What is ‘climate financing’?
At COP29, negotiators from nearly 200 countries tripled the amount of money needed to help developing countries counter warming temperatures, issuing their pledge days after the conference officially ended.
A large part of COP conferences involves nations pushing for funding to help poorer countries cope with climate change. The “complex packages” are often made up of grants, loans and private investment, according to the Associated Press.
>> Here’s what to know about the new funding deal that countries agreed to at UN climate talks
Climate financing had been at the center of talks, with a proposed $1.3 trillion at stake to assist developing countries.
A decision eventually came over the weekend, as developing nations pledged $300 billion to be delivered annually by 2035, according to a Bloomberg report.
Biden issued a statement on Saturday, praising the U.S. delegation for its work in getting the financing goal passed.
“In the years ahead, we are confident that the United States will continue this work: through our states and cities, our businesses, and our citizens, supported by durable legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act,” the statement reads.
‘None of this is a hoax’
During the first day of the conference, John Podesta, the United States’ climate envoy, pointedly set the record straight on climate change.
“None of this is a hoax. It is real. It’s a matter of life and death,” Podesta said in a report by the Associated Press.
Podesta highlighted global climate issues such as heat and prolonged drought that San Antonio and Texas residents have already experienced.
“This is something that transcends American politics; this is a global problem,” Miele said.
Moreover, Biden stayed busy across the Atlantic last week, spending time in Brazil for the G20 summit.
While there, Biden announced millions of dollars in funding for new climate pledges, such as $325 million to support the World Bank in helping developing countries step back from fossil fuel reliance, the AP said.
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