The presidencies of COP28 (UAE), COP29 (Azerbaijan), and COP30 (Brazil) have adopted the Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment, and Trade ("BICFIT") for COP29. This initiative aims to foster collaboration across climate finance, investment, and trade, bringing together a range of key stakeholders.
For launching the BICFIT initiative, the COP29 presidency has also partnered with UNCTAD, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), multilateral development banks, and multilateral climate funds.
Finance at the Core of the Climate Agenda
The BICFIT Dialogue ensures that finance, investment, and trade are at the heart of the climate change agenda. It focuses on ensuring alignment and continuity across discussions, actions, and initiatives between past and future COP conferences to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement.
Details of the Baku Initiative
BICFIT builds on existing global initiatives, such as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, the Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate, the Foreign Direct Investment Coalition for Climate, and the Declaration of Baku Climate Coalition for SMEs' Green Transition. The goal is to align climate finance, investment, and trade with sustainable development priorities.
COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said, “The COP29 Presidency’s plan is based on two pillars. To enhance ambition and enable action. This means setting out clear climate plans and delivering the finance we need. As we mobilize climate finance, we allow for higher ambitions and as we signal higher ambition, we build trust to unlock greater financial commitments.”
“We need all actors from the private sector, philanthropies, multilateral development banks and climate funds, international organizations, and civil society to contribute,” he added.
Baku Initiative and Partner Commitment
Babayev explained that the launch of the Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment and Trade (BICFIT) and hosting the Business, Investment and Philanthropy Climate Platform (BIPCP) “represent our strong commitment to bring critical partners together to accelerate ambitious climate action.”
For his part, Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and co-chair of the BICFIT Initiative, stated that “Vulnerable countries must not be held back from delivering on their ambitious climate action because of financing limitations. To meet this moment at COP29 and beyond, we require a major shift in public and private finance, domestically and internationally, including the reform of the global finance architecture.”
Platform for Innovative Financing Solutions
“The BICFIT initiative stands as a principal platform for fostering collaboration and innovative solutions across climate finance, investment, and trade, empowering nations to tackle this formidable yet essential journey toward transformative structural change,” Steiner added.
For her part, Rebecca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and co-chair of the BICFIT Dialogue, emphasized that developing countries will need $1.1 trillion annually for climate financing by 2025, with an expected $900 billion from external sources.
She added that this initiative enables to align trade, investment, and finance with climate goals, bringing stakeholders together to ensure these three drivers work in concert: Better coordination will lower the overall cost of a just transition, leveraging shared strengths and minimising conflicts between climate policies and sustainable development.”
