Water for Climate and Finance: Key Takeaways from COP29 in Baku

CCB • November 29, 2024

COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, concluded on November 22. Often referred to as the "Finance COP," this conference also placed a strong emphasis on water issues. We’ve gathered the key highlights from COP29 that focus on the intersection of water and climate.

29 November 2024 - The climate crisis is most acutely affecting water resources. WMO’s State of Global Water Resources reports show that the water cycle is spinning out of control and becoming more erratic, unpredictable, and extreme.


CLIMATE & WATER


Climate change is expected to lead to more frequent incidents of water pollution, salinization, and eutrophication, driven by increased droughts, floods, sea level rise, and rising water temperatures in certain rivers and lakes. The Baltic Sea, with its relatively small water volume and slow exchange of water with the North Atlantic, is particularly vulnerable. These conditions amplify the impact of climate change, causing many processes and interactions to occur more rapidly than in other seas. To learn more about the effects of climate change in the Baltic Sea in the latest update of HELCOM Baltic Sea Climate Change Fact Sheet.


At COP29, the most significant and expected event has been the adoption of the Declaration on Water for Climate Action. The Declaration commits to applying comprehensive approaches to combating the causes and consequences of climate change for water basins, paving the way for increased regional and international cooperation. Nearly 50 countries joined the adoption of the Declaration, it was approved by prominent non-state actors, including WWF, Water.org & Water Equity, Stockholm International Water Institute and the Islamic Development Bank.


It also emphasizes the need to integrate water-related mitigation and adaptation measures into national climate policies, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). To support this, signatories will collaborate to enhance the generation of scientific knowledge on the causes and impacts of climate change on water resources and basins. This will include efforts to share data and develop new climate scenarios at the basin level.


To support the implementation of these actions Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action was launched with high-level representatives from the European Union, Finland, Gambia, Germany, Moldova, the Netherlands, Slovenia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This initiative will serve as a collaboration platform between COPs, promoting continuity and coherence in water-related climate actions. It will ensure a sustained focus on water and its connections to climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and desertification, with an emphasis on actions at the international, regional, river, and basin levels.


Commenting on the Water for Climate Action launch, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said: “Water is the link that flows between the climate, biodiversity and desertification crises. By enhancing collaboration between countries and between COPs, the Water for Climate Action initiative will allow us to act on all three fronts”.


From the point of view of water resources, COP29 is an important milestone, an official recognition at a high level that water resources are an integral part of the global climate agenda. The necessity of integrating water management and transboundary cooperation into national climate policy, such as Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans, is not something new, but obviously crucial for effective climate adaptation and mitigation. We will be able to see the first results of this process next year. Parties will provide updates to their own NDCs and NAPs by February 2025 so COP29 is an important moment in making the case for water’s role in these key documents.


CLIMATE & FINANCE


One of the main results of COP29 was the approval of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) - the target of $300 billion per year by 2035 annually by developed countries to combat climate change in developing countries. This result falls short of what developing countries would hope for at the end of a long negotiation process, and does not meet their real needs considering the scale of the observed impacts of global climate change and the speed of ongoing climate shifts. On the other hand, the call in the final document to jointly create conditions for increasing climate financing for developing countries from all sources to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 seems to leave the door open and maintains hope for a qualitatively higher level of ambition in this critical area. However, it also hints that large sums of money will not simply fall from the sky and that all stakeholders and countries will need to work hard to attract such funds and elevate climate finance to a new level.


OUTCOMES


Overall, climatologists and activists worldwide expressed dissatisfaction with the recent conference. They felt the issues facing Pacific island nations were not adequately addressed, the financial commitments were insufficient, and the outcomes of the conference were, in the words of Shailendra Yashwant, Senior Advisor at Climate Action Network South Asia: "not just a failure, but a betrayal" of developing countries.


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Article written by Anna Ushakova, CCB Maritime Working Area Leader

Fishing & NGOs:Sustainable herring fishing in the Gulf of Bothnia is strengthened through better knowledge, long-term and ecosystem-based fisheries management, and protection of herring spawning areas

By CCB • May 28, 2026
28 May 2026 - Baltic Sea herring stocks and the herring fisheries have in recent years become a central point of contention in Baltic Sea fisheries policy. Member States' approaches to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) recommendations for herring quotas have varied, and the public debate around herring is polarised. At the same time, dialogue between groups of fishers and other stakeholders in different countries has been limited, and not all actors have had a clear picture of each other's perspectives and needs. Within the framework of the Fisheries for the Future project, funded by Ålandsbanken’s Baltic Sea Project, Finnish and Swedish fishers, environmental organisations and researchers gathered last autumn to discuss the status of herring stocks and fishing in the Baltic Sea. Participants gained a better understanding of differences between countries and areas regarding stock status, fisheries management and research. The organisations that took part in the workshop all agree on the need for joint dialogue and wish for the cooperation to continue. “ The project combines research and practical understanding of the herring situation in the Baltic Sea. That makes the initiative particularly important, as the lessons learned can contribute to better decisions and more accurate measures going forward ," notes Crista Hietala, Head of Marketing and Communications at Ålandsbanken and the Baltic Sea Project. During the workshop, a shared understanding emerged of the complexity of the issue, where fishing is one factor but not the only cause of the state of the stocks. The need for a holistic approach was emphasised, in which environmental changes and factors affecting fisheries regulation are considered alongside fishing itself. " Herring stocks are affected by a range of interacting factors – from water quality and salinity to changes in food webs and climate change. At the same time, knowledge about how these factors interact remains limited, which contributes to increased uncertainty in management ," says Aimi Hamberg, Marine Policy Officer at Coalition Clean Baltic. More stable quotas increase predictability The predictability and economic sustainability of fishing can be improved by reducing annual variations in fishing quotas. Multi-annual and more stable quotas would facilitate the planning of fishing operations and better secure the herring's central role in the Baltic Sea ecosystem. The fishing and environmental organisations that participated in the workshop propose that EU member states ask the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) to investigate how the quota system can be developed in a more stable and long-term direction, while at the same time ensuring the recovery of sustainable herring stocks. More knowledge about herring spawning areas Workshop participants emphasise that a significantly better knowledge base is needed about herring spawning and nursery areas than what we have today. Updated information on the most important reproduction areas for herring is central to marine spatial planning, for example when siting offshore wind power and other uses of sea areas. Towards ecosystem-based stock assessments During the workshop, it was recommended that herring stock assessments should be based on an ecosystem perspective. ” We believe that stock assessments and advice on fishing quotas need to take greater account of changes in central ecosystem factors, such as predation by seals and cormorants. It is important to expand data collection in order to achieve this ," say representatives of Vi Svenska Fiskare (We Swedish Fishers). As a first step, workshop participants recommend that Finland and Sweden initiate a joint regional project in the Gulf of Bothnia, which can later be extended to other parts of the Baltic Sea. Management areas should be reviewed – dialogue on protected areas needs to continue The workshop highlighted the need to review the division of management areas in the Baltic Sea. Participants propose that the Bothnian Sea and the Bothnian Bay be separated as distinct regulatory areas. This is motivated by genetic differences between the stocks and the fish's migration patterns. In addition, participants consider it important to continue the dialogue on possible protected areas in the Bothnian Sea. Such areas could be introduced as time-limited pilot trials, whose effects are evaluated scientifically. The dialogue on protected areas in the Bothnian Sea has continued between the organisations at a meeting held in February. *** Related documents Read the press release in Swedish and in Finnish . Main outcomes of the workshop in Swedish and Finnish. *** Further information The Fisheries for the Future workshop was a collaborative project between the environmental organisation Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) and WWF Finland, with funding from Ålandsbanken’s Baltic Sea Project. Among the represented fishing organisations were Suomen Ammattikalastajaliitto/Finlands Yrkesfiskarförbund (Finnish Professional Fishers' Association), Österbottens Fiskarförbund (Ostrobothnia Fishers' Association), Vi Svenska Fiskare (We Swedish Fishers), Kustfiskarna Bottenhavet (Bothnian Sea Coastal Fishers), Ålands fiskare (Åland Fishers) and Sportfiskarna (the Swedish Anglers' Association). Fisheries management was represented by the Government of Åland and the County Administrative Board of Stockholm. In addition, experts from the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the University of Turku and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences participated.

EU fisheries at a crossroads: NGOs warn against reform as Baltic collapse exposes failure to enforce existing rules

By CCB • April 30, 2026
Failure to implement EU fisheries law, not gaps in the policy itself, has pushed the Baltic Sea to the brink. Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) urges immediate action to rebuild Baltic fish populations and restore ecosystems.