Government and business leaders come together to accelerate climate action before COP29

Business leaders, ambassadors, industry experts and representatives from the COP Troika governments of the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Brazil joined discussions hosted by the government on Wednesday 6 November to galvanise climate action ahead of COP29.

The discussions were chaired by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Development Minister Anneliese Dodds and Environment Secretary Steve Reed. The 3 roundtables were focused on financing the transition to renewable energy, accelerating investment for projects improving climate resilience, and the global treaty to end plastic pollution.

The meetings took place ahead of COP29 where the UK will play a leading role securing a new and expanded finance goal that unlocks more funding from the private sector and financial institutions, and helps to scale up climate action in developing countries and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Changing climate patterns have led to Brazil's Amazon region experiencing some of the most severe droughts on record, and increasingly severe floods and storms in Bangladesh are leaving low-lying regions at constant risk from rising sea levels. Tackling climate change both in the UK and around the world is essential to ensuring energy security, delivering economic growth, and protecting current and future generations.  

Each roundtable focused on gaining agreements from participants to support the government's world-leading climate agenda and setting the stage for impactful dialogue in Baku, Azerbaijan:  

Mobilising finance for a green energy transition roundtable

Led by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, participants including IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, Azerbaijan Finance Minister Samir Sharifov and President of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende agreed that scaling clean energy investment into Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDE) is key to delivering globally agreed goals to triple renewable deployment and double energy efficiency rates by 2030 – limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C as set out in the Paris Agreement. 

Building the business case for adaptation and resilience roundtable

In a discussion led by Development Minister Anneliese Dodds, participants recognised the significant financing gap in climate adaptation – especially compared with mitigation funding – and the need to close this gap and ensure climate risks are priced into investment decisions. Participants agreed on the need to make the business case for climate-resilient finance and that partnerships across the public and private sectors are critical to achieving this.

Plastic pollution treaty roundtable

In a discussion opened by Environment Secretary Steve Reed, senior leaders from leading businesses, retailers and financial institutions discussed the importance of agreeing an ambitious, legally binding plastic pollution treaty at UN negotiations in Busan later in November, their readiness to implement the treaty, and signed a statement setting out the key elements that the treaty must include to end plastic pollution by 2040. 

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: 

Britain is back in the business of climate leadership because the only way to protect current generations in the UK is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, and the only way to protect our children and future generations is by leading global climate action.

At COP29 next week, we will work with other countries to step up ambition on tackling the climate crisis because the time for decisive action is now.

Development Minister Anneliese Dodds said:

We urgently need to do more to improve resilience to the impacts of climate change.

We need to build a global economy and infrastructure that can withstand the increasingly damaging impacts of the climate crisis. This will require attention across the global financial system to unlock the private finance to reach the $387 billion needed.

During our meeting with leaders across industry, civil society and academia we discussed how private investment in adaptation and resilience can demonstrate that genuine returns are possible. Our discussion sets the scene for COP29's climate finance focus and builds confidence that together we can meet the scale of the challenge.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed said:

For too long, plastic has littered our ocean and threatened our wildlife. 

We urgently need an ambitious international agreement to end plastic pollution by 2040 to promote a circular economy where we reduce waste and clean up our environment.

Following the roundtables, guests attended a reception hosted by His Majesty King Charles at Buckingham Palace to discuss the outcome of their discussions, co-hosted with the Sustainable Markets Initiative. The Foreign Secretary was also in attendance.

This event followed the recently announced appointments by the Foreign Secretary and Energy Secretary of the UK's Special Representative for Climate, Rachel Kyte, and the UK's Special Representative for Nature, Ruth Davis – who were also in attendance.