COP29 took place in Baku, Azerbaijan between 11 - 22 November 2024, and the Global Call to Action Campaign Leadership Team were there, busy advocating for the campaign. Despite enormous efforts by culture advocates, unfortunately COP negotiators missed the chance for an easy win for the planet and its peoples, failing to take even a small step towards the Global Call's core objective of addressing the culture gap in current international climate policy and planning.

Advocates managed to secure a single reference to culture in the decisions of the COP. This reference can be found in the highly contentious Mitigation Work Programme decision, where the discussion on “cities: buildings and urban systems” notes the “need to tailor solutions to sociocultural and economic contexts.” This inclusion builds on extensive engagement by the Climate Heritage Network’s Working Group 3 with the MWP’s 2024 global dialogues. This effort will be expanded in 2025 via the CHN’s new Decarbonizing the Built Environment Through Heritage initiative.

This year, the Global Call campaign sought to unite non-state actors and Group of Friends member countries behind a proposal to include a few words in the final COP29 decision expressing a request by the COP that the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies hold one or more workshops to consider issues related to culture and heritage in 2025. This seemingly small step would have laid the foundation for adoption of a broader culture decision at COP30, leading to critical “joint work” on culture and climate action in 2026, culminating in the adoption at COP31 of the first ever UNFCCC work plan for culture. Read our full roadmap to COP here.

What happened at COP29?

Full COP29 Update

A group pf people standing in front of the United Nations and COP29 logos

The Group of Friends of Culture-Based Climate Action met in Baku at the 2nd High-Level Ministerial for Culture-Based Climate Action at COP29, which took place on 15 November 2024. This meeting was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan and the co-chairs of the Group of Friends, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.

In a positive step, the Ministerial adopted Terms of Reference for the Group of Friends that declare the Group's goal to be the launch of the first Work Program on Culture-based Climate Action at the UNFCCC.

Following the meeting, Global Call members continued to work closely with friendly nations to keep culture on the COP29 negotiation agenda.

High-Level Ministerial for Culture-Based Climate Action at COP29

Key objectives of the 2nd High-Level Ministerial included:

Strengthen the global recognition of culture's pivotal role in climate action, advocating for its integration into climate policy and planning at all levels.
Establish a clear framework for culture-based climate action, encompassing guiding principles, goals and expected results from the multilateral culture-based climate action initiative.
Foster knowledge sharing, capacity building, and collaborative partnerships between developed and developing nations, promoting equitable and inclusive climate solutions.
Discuss the formulation of methodologies for assessing the effectiveness of culture-based climate initiatives.
Leverage the power of culture to drive systemic transitions toward a climate-resilient future, addressing the urgent need for scaled-up adaptation measures.