Climate Ministers meet in Denmark to set the course towards COP29

Published 28-02-2024

For the third year running, COP discussions get off to an early start at the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial. This year’s ministerial, hosted by Denmark in cooperation with the COP presidencies of the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan on 21 and 22 March 2024, will lay the path to a successful COP29, building on the historic UAE Consensus result from Dubai.

The Copenhagen Climate Ministerial will gather around 40 climate leaders and ministers from around the world to push for climate action and an ambitious COP29 result. It will focus on implementation of the groundbreaking commitments from COP28 while setting the course for COP29 in Azerbaijan in November.

Dr Sultan Al-Jaber, COP28 President, says:

The historic UAE Consensus set a clear path to keep the north star of 1.5 within reach, with many groundbreaking firsts, including the first agreement at a COP for a responsible transition away from fossil fuels, the first explicit targets for renewable energy capacity, tripling by 2030 and firsts for nature with a 2030 goal to end deforestation. Now all parties to the consensus must expedite work to enhance their NDCs in line with the commitments they have made. The Copenhagen Climate Ministerial will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to show how they are working on turning an unprecedented agreement into unprecedented action. We are what we do, not what we say.

Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President-Designate, says:

We are committed to building trust and momentum to deliver successful and meaningful climate action at COP29. It will take all members of the international community, working in partnership with the UN and other international actors, to achieve our goals in a spirit of solidarity. Only through an inclusive COP can we develop the right path forward.

Dan Jørgensen, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, says:

At COP28 the world reached a historic agreement to transition away from fossil fuels and set new ambitious goals for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Now we must all deliver on the commitments from Dubai. This meeting provides an early opportunity to push for implementation of the UAE consensus and an ambitious result on the new Goal on climate finance and on the NDCs we have to deliver in 2025. We are looking forward to welcoming the ministers and climate leaders to start this important work.

The Copenhagen Climate Ministerial will be the first time since COP28 in Dubai that climate leaders and ministers from central negotiation groups will meet in person to discuss issues central to the COP process. The COP28-president Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber will chair the meeting with the incoming COP29-president designate Mukhtar Babayev and Danish host Dan Jørgensen. Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Simon Stiell, will also attend the meeting.

The Ministerial will consist of a blend of plenaries and breakout sessions on NDCs, finance, climate adaptation, loss & damage and mitigation. The meeting will take place at Marienlyst Strandhotel in the Danish city of Elsinore.

Press inquiries should be directed to Lisa Christensen at limch@kefm.dk