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Delegates convened at the UN Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan in November to discuss the policies needed to tackle the climate crisis and scale up the investment needed for a just transition to a net zero, climate resilient economy. 

Dubbed as the “finance COP”, nations were asked to step up by adopting a strong new collective quantified goal (NCQG) for climate finance among other measures. Progress on the NCQG and other COP29 outcomes have set the stage for the submission of updated 2025 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of COP30 in Brazil, where parallel efforts to address the climate and nature crises will converge.  

At COP29 developed nations committed to funnel at least $300 billion annually into developing countries by 2035 to support tackling climate change, and the final text the text calls on all actors to scale up funds from all public and private sources to “at least $1.3 trillion by 2035.” In addition, negotiators agreed on the remaining sections of Article 6 on carbon markets, the final piece to finalize all elements of the Paris Agreement. These two outcomes are an important step in solidifying climate finance, but far more action is still needed in the coming years. 

The Investor Agenda Founding Partners – AIGCC, CDP, Ceres, IGCC, IIGCC, PRI and UNEP FI – co-hosted an official COP29 side event that brought together asset owners, asset managers, and government representatives from around the world to discuss accelerating policy and investor action to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The event discussed the Investor Agenda 2024 Global Investor Statement to Governments on the Climate Crisis. Signed by 651 investors and their representatives with almost $34 trillion USD in assets under management (AUM), the Statement is the most comprehensive yet in terms of its five priority asks of governments.  

The event also discussed how investors are making net-zero commitments, embedding science-based net zero goals and strategies into portfolio decisions, setting investment targets, laying out investor climate actions plans in alignment with the Investor Climate Action Plans (ICAPs) Ladder and Guidance, engaging companies to support them in their company transition plans, and urging governments to take robust action.  

Through these steps, investors are committed to ensuring portfolio value and generating returns over the long term for their beneficiaries and clients in line with their fiduciary duties. However, to make this transition effectively and at the rate and scale necessary, markets must be conducive to private sector investment with the appropriate legal, policy, and regulatory conditions. Moreover, the event also highlighted the scaling up of transition plans and the value of the Investor Climate Action Plans (ICAPs) Expectations Ladder and Guidance as a tool for investors. The ICAPs framework helps investors plan and implement their climate strategies, turning net zero commitments into action.   

Founding Partners of the Investor Agenda have shared their reactions and key takeaways from COP29 below.  

AIGCC / IGCC  

Rebecca Mikula-Wright, CEO of AIGCC and IGCC and Investor Agenda Steering Committee member said: 

“As the impacts of climate change intensify, adaptation will become increasingly critical. At COP29, AIGCC participated in a high-level event on National Adaptation Plans, where we emphasised the importance of these plans in facilitating better understanding of climate risks and enabling stronger collaboration with the private sector. Investors must play a more active role in supporting adaptation efforts, both domestically and internationally. AIGCC and IGCC will continue our unique and focused engagement with regional governments on adaptation and resilience.   

“We encourage investors to increase their climate ambition, align their portfolios with net-zero goals, and engage with companies to accelerate decarbonisation efforts.  

“Finally, as the deadline approaches for countries to submit their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), we also encourage governments to have ambitious commitments on climate action with strong 1.5-aligned emission targets and timelines for implementation that would provide more clarity to investors on where the opportunities lie.  

“AIGCC and IGCC will continue to be a regional Asia Pacific bridge to the UNFCCC processes in the year ahead to highlight what policies are important to enable capital to flow at scale and work with our global peer groups to advocate for policies outlined in the Global Investor Statement.” 

Read the full AIGCC reaction here.   

CDP   

Sherry Madera, CEO of CDP, a Founding Partner of the Investor Agenda, said:    

“COP29 needed to deliver a finance deal, and it did. While not perfect, and far short of where we need to get to, it still represents the largest climate finance ambition ever agreed. There is also a clear acknowledgment of private capital’s role in making the $300bn figure a floor, not a ceiling.

“The UN is calling this an insurance policy for the planet, but its more than that—it’s an investment. For private finance to step up and make their own investments, we now need to see more opportunity, transparency, and clear frameworks. Without these, we risk stalling progress. We can’t reasonably ask investors to go on a journey without giving them a route map, or indeed a final destination. With the right frameworks in place, global data systems will show that investments deliver real-world results—lower emissions, reduced impacts, and sustainable returns.

“The focus now is action. Governments must use existing data to set national targets and mobilize private finance where it can have the greatest impact. Transparency and accountability are critical. Early progress, such as the first Biennial Transparency Reports, shows the way forward. A whole-of-economy approach is essential to ensure finance flows effectively and measurably.” 

Ceres   

Mindy Lubber, CEO and President of Ceres and Investor Agenda Steering Committee member, said:   

“Today’s agreement shows once again that finance and markets will play a central role in achieving the world’s shared goal of preventing the worst impacts of climate change. While we would have liked to see more global ambition for funding to help developing nations adapt to and mitigate the effects of a changing climate, we are pleased to see an expanded contributor base and clear standards for carbon markets worldwide. Ceres is confident that governmental efforts to direct funding toward these efforts will unlock exponentially greater private capital across the world.  

“It is clear coming out of Baku that public and private sectors worldwide will continue to seek solutions to address the climate crisis. At the start of COP29, more than 650 investors with $33 trillion in assets signed the 2024 Global Investor Statement, calling for a whole-of-government approach to implement economy-wide policies in line with the Paris Agreement goal to prevent worsening and costly climate disasters. We also applaud the governments that issued new Nationally Determined Contributions as they aim to reduce pollution that is dangerously overheating the planet and to adopt innovative technologies that will drive their economies forward.” 

Read the full Ceres reaction here.   

IIGCC   

Arianna Griffa, Senior Policy Manager at IIGCC, Founding Partner of The Investor Agenda, said:     

“Another year of fraught negotiations meant slow progress, but COP29 once more demonstrated that this vast, multilateral stage is functional. It provides an unrivalled platform for diverse stakeholders and non-state actors, including investors, to share their experiences and solutions to support negotiations. Some momentum was lost from last year’s COP28 text, but we remain optimistic that it will pick up in Belem at COP30. 

The focus on NDCs will gather pace as the country deadline approaches. We will continue to call for more investable NDCs that support greater public-private collaboration to identify and co-develop investment opportunities for the transition. There is an opportunity for the more industrialised emerging markets and developing economies to show leadership in this space. 

Looking ahead, COP30 discussions are likely to revolve around the outcomes of the COP28 Global stocktake and the first steps of the Baku to Belem roadmap. The line between climate and nature agendas will continue to blur, especially given Brazil’s position as a custodian of the Amazon rainforest in the deforestation conversation.” 

Read the full IIGCC reaction here.  

UNEP FI      

COP29 offered an important opportunity for governments and other global stakeholders to put in place the mechanisms, tools and signals required for countries to continue implementing their contributions to the Paris Agreement as urgently needed. The main areas of negotiation were on:   

the design and key elements of the future climate financial architecture and the next collective quantified goal (NCQG) on climate finance;   

the rulebook for the future international, compliance carbon markets; and    

countries’ collective signaling on mitigation ambition, as follow up to the various energy transition objectives captured in last year’s COP28 ’UAE Consensus’. 

As widely reported elsewhere, while opportunities were missed to create the required clarity and determination on finance and ambition, there was some good news, even a breakthrough, on the establishment of government-backed, international carbon markets of the future.   

Read the full UNEP FI reaction here.