At COP29, delegates and representatives from the private and public sectors and civil society came together to support initiatives and actions centered around energy and peace, relief and recovery. Aligned with COP29’s vision to enhance ambition and enable action, these commitments build a strong foundation for us to measure progress, send strong market signals to direct financial flows, and foster a sense of shared responsibility and urgency across all sectors of society.

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Energy initiatives focus on green energy, hydrogen and global energy storage 

While hosting a High-Level Roundtable on Green Energy, Hydrogen and Global Energy Storage and Grids, the COP29 Presidency officially launched three energy initiatives and called on Party and non-Party stakeholders for endorsement of each. These initiatives reflect the Presidency’s efforts to take forward the outcomes of the first Global Stocktake on renewable energy and hydrogen. The initiatives include: 

• COP29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge – endorsers commit to a collective goal of deploying 1,500 GW of energy storage globally by 2030—more than six times the capacity of 2022. It also includes a commitment to add or refurbish 25 million kilometres of grids globally by 2030, recognising the need to add or refurbish an additional 65 million kilometres by 2040.
• COP29 Green Energy Pledge: Green Energy Zones and Corridors – endorsers commit to promoting in green energy zones and corridors to connect sources of abundant green energy generation with the communities most in need by developing larger intraregional and interregional interconnected power grids. These grids will enable cost-effective and secure transmission of electricity over long distances.
• COP29 Hydrogen Declaration – endorsers commit to scale up renewable, clean/zero-emission and low-carbon hydrogen production and accelerate the decarbonisation of existing hydrogen production from unabated fossil fuels. It aims to significantly increase green hydrogen production from one million tonnes annually today and reduce the 96 Mt of hydrogen currently produced from unabated fossil fuels.

When asked about the initiatives, International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol remarked: “With the world moving at speed into the Age of Electricity, the IEA’s analysis has made very clear that in order to meet energy and climate goals – including tripling global renewable power capacity this decade while strengthening energy security – countries need to rapidly increase energy storage and also expand and upgrade their electricity grids. The COP29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge, which is informed by the IEA’s work, marks an important step forward. We urge governments around the world to make energy storage and resilient grids key priorities as they strive to build more secure, affordable and sustainable energy systems.”

International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Director-General Francesco La Camera commented: “The COP29 Energy Initiatives are vital to keep the window towards 1.5°C open. At COP28, world leaders committed to the global goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030. Achieving this goal requires not only scaling up generation, but also overcoming the challenges associated with integrating renewables into the grids. Storage solutions, grid expansion and significant investment are critical enablers. As the custodian agency for tracking progress towards tripling renewables, we at IRENA are convinced that countries’ endorsement and implementation of today’s initiatives will become the key for advancing energy transitions aligned with the Paris Agreement’s objectives.”

A call to act on peace, relief and recovery

The Presidency, in collaboration with Egypt, Italy, Germany, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, launched the Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace, Relief, and Recovery—a milestone initiative aimed at addressing the urgent nexus of climate change, conflict, and humanitarian needs. It is a response to the growing recognition that climate change’s adverse effects—such as water scarcity, food insecurity, land degradation, displacement, and livelihood disruptions—can act as catalysts for conflict and instability, especially in vulnerable regions. 

The Baku Call was launched at the High-level panel titled “Climate and Peace: Enabling Joint Action to Leave No One Behind” to inaugurate the COP29 Peace, Relief, and Recovery Day, which brought together ministers and governmental envoys from both the Global North and South to develop a strategy for increased prevention of climate-induced conflicts and support for climate and conflict vulnerable nations with high humanitarian needs.  

The Baku Call builds upon climate and peace initiatives championed by previous COP Presidencies, and establishes the Baku Climate and Peace Action Hub, a cooperative platform designed to facilitate collaboration between national, regional and international peace and climate initiatives. The Hub will work in synergy with ongoing peace and climate efforts, including the CRSP, CRRP, Climate for Peace Initiative (C4P) and the climate dimension of the Mattei Plan for Africa, among others. 

The COP Truce Appeal 

The COP Truce Appeal was unveiled today, symbolizing the role of cooperation and peace as indispensable components of global climate action. 132 countries have joined the Appeal, which is supported by over a thousand international institutions, private sector representatives, civil society organizations and influential public figures. Their support reflects a powerful collective recognition—that achieving climate justice and building peace are fundamentally interconnected goals.  

Matchmaking to accelerate decarbonisation

UNIDO and the Climate Club also today officially launched the Global Matchmaking Platform (GMP) for Industrial Decarbonisation, which is a platform dedicated to accelerating decarbonisation in heavy-emitting industries in the presence of key donor and partner organisations. 

As the only platform of its kind focused specifically on decarbonising industrial sectors, GMP is open to all emerging and developing economies and connects country-specific needs with global technical and financial assistance to reduce emissions in energy and emissions-intensive industrial sectors. UNIDO and the Climate Club are now accepting formal project and programme application requests from countries as well as expressions of interest in becoming network partners from institutions and donors.  

Partnering up for renewable energy in Central Asia 

Today, IRENA and Azerbaijan’s Minister of Energy formally launched the Accelerated Partnership for Renewable Energy in Central Asia (APRECA)—a framework of regional cooperation amongst Central Asian countries that fast tracks investments and enhances inter-regional connectivity to ultimately accelerate renewable energy deployment and trade, foster green industrialisation and maximise socioeconomic benefits in the region. The partnership was proposed to energy ministers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This announcement kicks-off a two-day investment forum at COP29 focused on energy transition investments and finance in Central Asia. 

Finance community supports renewable hydrogen project 

The representatives of international and national development finance institutions pledged their collective support for the 10 GW Lighthouse Initiative. This aims to foster collaboration towards bringing renewable hydrogen projects of between 100 MW and 1 GW in size in emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs) to Final Investment Decision (FID) stage by 2030. The 10 GW Lighthouse Initiative is a contribution to the COP-centered “Breakthrough Agenda”, which convenes initiatives and countries to strengthen international collaboration to make clean technologies and sustainable solutions, including hydrogen, the most affordable, accessible and attractive option in key sectors and in all regions by 2030. 

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