New initiatives launched by the COP 29 UNFCCC Presidency

The COP29 Presidency recently launched the Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste and the Baku Harmoniya Climate Farmers Initiative.

• The Declaration builds on the work of previous COPs by supporting the implementation of the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) by 2021, which was launched at COP26.

On the reduction of methane from the declaration of organic waste

• The signatories declared their commitment to set sectoral targets to reduce methane from organic waste in future NDCs and to establish policies and roadmaps to meet sectoral methane targets.
  • Organic waste is the third largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions after agriculture and fossil fuels.
• It was developed in collaboration with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) convened by UNEP.
  • CCAC is a voluntary partnership established in 2012 to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as methane, black carbon, HFCs and tropospheric ozone.
• Signatories: 35 countries (India is not a signatory), accounting for 47 % of global methane emissions from organic waste.

About the Baku Harmoniya climate initiative for farmers

• This is a new aggregator platform launched by the Azerbaijani Presidency of COP29 with the UN FAO.
• Objective: Helping farmers navigate various programs to support the transformation of agri-food systems resilient to climate change, catalyze investments and empower farmers, especially women and youth.
• It will be hosted by FAO as part of the Food and Agriculture Partnership for Sustainable Transformation (FAST).
  • FAST is a multi-stakeholder platform based on COP27 (2022) working to strengthen the quantity and quality of climate finance in agri-food systems for the most vulnerable groups.