For the first time in a quarter of a century I do not expect to participate in the COP this year. My thoughts are with friends and colleagues from many countries who will be at COP29, working to find ways forward to strengthen our collective action to deal with climate change.

🌍@pwatkinson, Paris Agreement climate negotiator, at today’s #StateOfEU calls for more follow-through on climate pledges and explores how cooperation can strengthen action. ❝The Paris Agreement must not be a box-ticking exercise but a learning experience on how everyone can do

@pwatkinson @mfespinosaEC @GWLvoices @PlanAearth @Green_Got_ 💬@pwatkinson calls for sustained action towards climate goals. #StateOfEU ❝It’s not just about announcements, it’s about delivery. We now have the challenge of making these climate agreements meaningful.❞

Parabéns, good luck to André Corr��a do Lago ! A great choice to lead COP30, a huge challenge ahead.

But above all we need to improve the action agenda that now takes so much space around the COP – it has huge potential so long as it can be better coordinated between presidencies, ensure follow-up, and reduce the number of events that are driven more by communication objectives

We can improve the multilateral climate process – negotiations are messy, overloaded, and often fails to deliver.

Finance has to be at the heart of that, but it is also about coordination and cooperation around industrial policy, and a greater focus to the social dimension of change and the fairness of the transition, within and between countries.

But rather than focus only on the targets, we should perhaps spend more time on how cooperation and collaboration can unlock the barriers to climate action.

Given the troubled context, it is likely targets in NDCs are more modest than we need. The incoming Brazilian COP30 presidency and the UN Secretary General need to use their leverage to encourage the highest possible ambition.

The new round of nationally determined contributions due in the coming months will therefore be critical.

Those trying to push back on climate policy are not going to reverse that underlying movement, but they can make us lose precious time, especially since the transition remains too slow and incomplete as many continue to invest in fossil fuels alongside the growth in clean energy

Above all, the transition to a clean energy future is under way.

And there are reasons for hope. Despite a few rumours, no other country has yet indicated that it will follow the US out of the Paris Agreement. The rest of the world needs to continue to support that key framework for strengthening action and collaboration.

But despair would be the wrong choice. The extreme heat, worsening climate impacts, and the attempt to push back against climate policy are instead reasons to redouble efforts to seek stronger climate action.

Extreme events are leading to a loss of welfare, a loss of human lives, and impacting natural ecosystems.

At a multilateral level, COP29 was a messy conference and left many parties disappointed, especially on climate finance. COPs rarely deliver when the economic context is bad.

Here in Europe, we have a strong base on which to build, but many governments are in a weak political position, budgets are tight, political extremes are rising, and challenges to climate policies are growing.

The US will withdraw from the Paris Agreement (perhaps even the UNFCCC?) and unpick the climate policies of the outgoing administration.

Looking forward, geopolitical tensions are high and may get worse. The incoming US administration is multiplying provocations before even taking office. The threat of trade wars hangs over the global economy.

There are moments when it might be tempting to give in to despair. 2024 was the warmest year on record, the first time we have seen the global average temperature go more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

COP29 was not perfect, far from it, but it was not the end but the starting point for the next round of strengthening action and delivery. The incoming Brazilian presidency of COP30 has a heavy task ahead