COP29: World leaders meet in Baku as UN climate talks begin

The UN has warned 2024 will be the hottest year on record, as its annual climate conference begins in Baku.

World leaders from around 200 nations due to appear over the next two weeks at COP29 in oil-producing nation of Azerbaijan.

A particular focus will be how countries plan to limit long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C - a target set by the Paris Agreement in 2015.

While this year has seen average temperatures 1.5C above pre-industrial era, the UN says the vital target has not yet been breached as it refers to long-term trends.

Azerbaijan has been ruled by the same leader, President Ilham Aliyev, since 2003. He secured his latest term in 2018 in an election which Western observers said fell short of democratic standards.

What is the 1.5C target?

The Paris Agreement aims to keep the global average temperature well below 2C, and preferably to 1.5C.

Nearly 200 parties adopted the legally binding international treaty on climate change at COP21 - nine years ago.

Just last week, it was projected that 2024 would be the first year to breach the 1.5C global warming limit.

It's also expected to break the record again, for the hottest year on record.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has just said that 2024 is on track to be the world’s warmest year on record.

The WMO says that the global average temperature between January and September has been around 1.54C above those of the late 19th Century.

Back in Paris in 2015, almost 200 countries pledged to try to limit long-term temperature rises to that level, hoping to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change.

But the UN says this 1.5C target has not yet been breached, because it refers to a longer term average.

Source: BBC