COP28 launches 'The COP Presidencies Troika' in partnership with the COP29 and COP30 Presidencies--a groundbreaking initiative to support 'Mission 1.5°C' by maintaining momentum, locking in continuity, and anchoring implementation

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Feb 13, 2024, 00:55 ET

The COP Presidencies Troika, a key achievement of the COP28 Presidency mandated by the UAE Consensus, unites COP28 with the next two COP Presidencies – Azerbaijan and Brazil – to drive ambitious collective climate action. The three will work on the 'Roadmap to Mission 1.5°C'.
COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said: "The Troika represents critical and unprecedented collaboration to maintain momentum, lock in continuity and anchor implementation."
It will provide a platform for the three Presidencies to collaborate on various activities until COP30, to raise ambition across all pillars of the Paris Agreement to course correct in line with the UAE Consensus agreed in Dubai.
The collaboration between the three COP Presidencies, or Troika, was mandated in the UAE Consensus to "significantly enhance international cooperation and the international enabling environment to stimulate ambition in the next round of nationally determined contributions, with a view to enhancing action and implementation over this critical decade and keeping 1.5°C within reach."
Representatives of the three COP Presidencies met at Expo City Dubai, to launch the COP Presidencies Troika.
COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said: "At COP28, Parties mobilized behind historic climate action through both the negotiations and their commitments to the Presidential Action Agenda. We cannot afford to lose momentum; we must do everything we can to keep 1.5°C within reach."
The Troika's laser focus on the 2025 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) will ensure that countries' individual commitments deliver enhanced climate action, are guided by climate urgency. Its work to mobilize political momentum and channel resources towards NDCs will help to ensure ambition by all countries, while supporting developing countries in accelerating a just transition.
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said: "The unity of this Troika will help deliver on the ambition needed to tackle climate change, through collaboration, cooperation and coordination.'"

DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- COP28 today launched a partnership with Azerbaijan and Brazil, who will host COP29 and COP30 respectively, to improve cooperation and continuity between current and future COP Presidencies, leading to increased climate action in support of 'Mission 1.5°C'.

The partnership, known as The COP Presidencies Troika, marks the first time that a current COP Presidency has been formally mandated to unite with two future presidencies to foster international cooperation to stimulate ambition. COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber emphasized the importance of this partnership, stating, "The Troika represents critical and unprecedented collaboration to maintain momentum, lock in continuity and anchor implementation."

The Troika, which means group of three, will help to ensure the delivery of the Presidencies' collective responsibilities and support of global priorities, which in turn will transform agreement into action by government and non-government stakeholders.

Speaking at the launch of the Troika, held in Expo City Dubai, COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said: "COP28 delivered a different, groundbreaking COP, that culminated in The UAE Consensus. At COP28, Parties mobilized behind historic climate action through both the negotiations and their commitments to the Presidential Action Agenda. The Troika helps ensure we have the collaboration and continuity required to keep the North Star of 1.5°C in sight—from Baku to Belém and beyond. The breakthroughs we all achieved at COP28 must carry forward to COP29 and 30—in ambitious nationally determined contributions, climate finance follow through, and accelerated implementation."

An agreement for the three Presidencies to work together on a 'Roadmap to Mission 1.5°C' was mandated by the UAE Consensus. Supported by all 198 Parties, this agreement must now be actioned under the COP Presidencies Troika.

The agreement states that the partnership will "significantly enhance international cooperation and the international enabling environment to stimulate ambition in the next round of nationally determined contributions, with a view to enhancing action and implementation over this critical decade and keeping 1.5°C within reach."

Dr. Al Jaber said: "The UAE Consensus included a clear mandate for the three Presidencies—the UAE, Azerbaijan and Brazil—to cooperate on the 'Roadmap to Mission 1.5°C'. We will be working together through the COP Presidencies Troika, with our friends in Baku and Brazil, to ensure that promises made in Dubai are fulfilled through closer, focused partnerships and credible support to enable delivery. Together we ensure that new agreements forged at the next COP set us on the path we need to achieve our mission."

COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, is expected to agree on a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance to respond to the needs and priorities of developing countries. The adoption of the NCQG will constitute the most significant climate finance milestone since the 2009 commitment by developed countries to a goal of mobilizing jointly USD $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.

Building on both the UAE Consensus and the outcomes of Baku, at COP30 in Brazil, the Troika's laser focus on the 2025 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) round will ensure that countries' individual commitments deliver ambitious climate action. This will accelerate the global collective ability to meet the Paris goals in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.

COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan's Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources, joined Dr. Al Jaber, and highlighted: "We are committed to leveraging our strength as a bridge builder between the developed and developing world as host of COP29, to accelerate efforts to keep 1.5 in reach. Key to that will be establishing a new climate finance goal that reflects the scale and urgency of the climate challenge. And equally important, unlocking those funds and getting them to the nations that need them most."

Minister Marina Silva, Brazil's Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, said: "As I said in Dubai, we need to make the most of the opportunity that this Troika of COP Presidencies presents: to ensure that in these coming two years we will be able to do what science tells us we have to, in the last window of opportunity to achieve the 1.5°C ambition."

Following the launch of the Troika, Simon Stiell, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, said: "The unity of this Troika will help deliver on the ambition needed to tackle climate change, through collaboration, cooperation and coordination. This is an opportunity to cement what was agreed at COP28, ensure that it is enabled by COP29 and the subsequent actions taken at COP30 with new ambitious NDCs - shifting finance from trickles to torrents and delivering 1.5°C aligned NDCs."

Notes to Editors COP28 UAE:

At the historic COP28, countries came together to deliver The UAE Consensus - the most ambitious and comprehensive set of negotiated outcomes to come out of the UNFCCC process since COP21.
The UAE Consensus includes an unprecedented reference to transitioning away from all fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner in this critical decade to enable the world to reach net zero emissions by 2050, in keeping with the science.
An important opportunity lies in working multilaterally on commitments to deliver high-ambition decisions at COP28, including through the UAE Consensus. This can lead to real economy action for 2030 and help with setting of interim targets that strengthen the NDCs in 2025 in the lead-up to COP30.