As 2024 comes to a close we look back at the most important climate events, meetings, negotiations and initiatives from the last twelve months. Our research and data, articles and projects reveal a year that has been rich with developments and change in both the climate itself and what we can expect from the future.
From Obama to Trump, then Biden and Trump again. The US presidents who have come and gone over the past quarter century have brought different visions and policies when it comes to climate finance. Leveraging her experience in policy analysis of international environmental and climate agreements, CMCC researcher Semercioglu Nazlicicek outlines the history of US contributions to loss and damage funding and what we can expect from a second Trump term in office.
Climate finance was front and center, while a leading actor was relegated to a sideline role. In a CMCC webinar, negotiators returning from Baku take stock of key aspects of COP29, such as the complex context of the negotiations, decisions on the New Collective Quantified Goal, the Baku-to-Belem roadmap, news on the carbon market, global cooperation, and adaptation. Throughout, it emerges that bridging scientific insights with policy is more essential than ever to transform commitments into meaningful climate action.
The United Nations recently adopted the UN Pact For The Future, its latest framework aimed at addressing global challenges and accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reforming international financial systems to better serve developing nations, tackling climate change, and governing emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. We take a closer look at what this means for climate science.
The focus of the ongoing COP is to decide on a new finance regime. Major polluters will be asked to massively increase their financial contributions to developing nations. Researchers from IIASA and CMCC show that Loss and Damage needs of vulnerable countries range between roughly 130 and 940 billion Dollars in 2025 alone. On top of money for mitigation and adaptation.
At COP29 the critical role of agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) as both a catalyst and a provider of potential solutions to rising emissions is of significant importance. “COP29 must lay the groundwork for COP30 by prioritizing sustainable land-use strategies and ensuring stronger commitments to reducing emissions from land use,” says CMCC researcher and member of the Italian delegation to COP29 Matteo Bellotta.
Removing carbon from the atmosphere will play a crucial role in the ability of countries to reach their climate goals. “Alongside the role of carbon capture technologies, enhancing the carbon sink potential land sector is the solution to offsetting residual un-abatable emissions and therefore achieving net-zero targets,” says Maria Vincenza Chiriacò, CMCC researcher and member of the Italian delegation to COP29 – where Parties to the Paris Agreement are working towards establishing clear and rigorous rules for a UN backed-global carbon market.
Mitigation and adaptation finance are critical elements in climate negotiations aimed at building a more resilient future. “COP29 has already been called ‘the Finance COP’ due to the importance of the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), which will replace the previous USD 100 billion goal,” says Marta Ellena, CMCC researcher and member of the Italian delegation to COP29. Frontier climate research, such as that conducted at CMCC, can support international and local climate financing mechanisms by quantifying needs, evaluating and devising effective policies, and ensuring accountability and transparency of financial flows.
As the world’s leaders, scientists, and policy experts gather for COP29 in Baku, discussions around National Adaptation Plans for the most vulnerable nations, particularly least developed countries, are poised to take center stage. With climate change disproportionately impacting these regions, scientific insight from CMCC researcher Caterina Guidi highlights that adaptation is not just a policy goal but an urgent necessity for survival and sustainable development.
“We need to pull together and scale up resources within and beyond the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, and ensure that these resources reach those most in need,” say CMCC experts in the buildup to COP29. Following the creation of the Loss and Damage Fund, economic and adaptation experts have focused on estimating the amount of financial resources needed to support vulnerable regions whilst promoting a just allocation that reflects the unequal distribution of climate impacts. After the official operationalization of the Fund and the first round of commitments, pledges have reached over 700 million USD in 2024.
Climate change and biodiversity loss are intertwined crises with common causes and effects. Research, science-based tools, and collaboration are taking center stage as national and international efforts to understand, monitor and promote biodiversity ramp up. From the ongoing COP16 on Biological Diversity to the National Biodiversity Future Centre, Italy’s first National Research and Innovation Center dedicated to biodiversity, getting accurate knowledge and data to decision makers and stakeholders is key.
2024 saw yet another Mediterranean summer characterized by extreme climate and weather events. From waterspouts and wildfires to heatwaves, cyclones and floods, researchers are investigating the causes of these changes, how to better predict them, and what we need to adapt to the changes that they bring.
