Clean air events at COP29

World leaders will convene at the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11-22 November, to build consensus and facilitate progress on climate action.

We’ve rounded up sessions, talks and side events specifically related to clean air. We will update this list regularly, so if you’re hosting an event on clean air, please get in touch with us.

• 11-14 November: Goals House Installation
  Location: Goals House
  Clean Air Fund commissioned a traditional Azerbaijani rug by artist Faig Ahmed, which was displayed at Goals House. The rug was woven with yarn sustainably sourced from some of the places in the world suffering the most from air pollution. It served as a reminder to attendees that although we are separated by geography, with 99% of the world’s population breathing harmful air, our fates are all interwoven in the face of the global threat of air pollution.
• 11-16 November: Harnessing Youth for Climate Resilience
  Location: Exhibit Booth 13, Blue Zone
  UrbanBetter hosted an exhibition focused on harnessing youth, physical activity, and citizen science for data-driven advocacy in collaboration with Centre for 21st Century Issues. This included activities to collect and showcase air quality data, and a display calling upon global leaders to prioritise key actions and initiatives that will significantly improve air quality across Africa.
• 11-22 November: COP29 Super Pollutants events
  Location: Various
  CCAC pulled together this Super Pollutants Tracker, a central repository of all COP29 events relevant to short lived climate pollutants, including methane, HFCs, black carbon & N2O.
• 12 November, 15:30: #BuyMoreTime: Cutting Short-Lived Pollutants for Rapid Planetary Cooling
  Location: Online, Diplomatic Zone
  We Don’t Have Time and CCAC introduced their global campaign to intensify focus on cutting short-lived climate gases – give us the time we need to transition our economies and keep 1.5 alive. Recording available here 
• 12 November, 16:45-18:15: The Health Argument for Climate Action: special focus on maternal, newborn, child and adolescents
  Location: Side Event Room 6, Blue Zone
  This UN side event, in collaboration with UNICEF, highlighted the crucial interconnection between health and climate change, with a focus on child health and well-being, and the importance of the health co-benefits of climate action. 
• 12 November, time TBC: Youth-led Precision Advocacy Breathing Life into Urban Air Quality
  Location: Nigerian Pavilion, Green Zone
  Waziri Mainasara, coordinator of Lagos Cityzens Hub moderated this UrbanBetter event featuring an interactive Q&A and declaration showcase. The latter highlighted expectations for air quality improvements in Africa leading up to COP30. It served as a platform for stakeholders to commit to actionable steps towards enhancing urban air quality and fostering healthier environments.
• 13 November, 16:45-18:15: Satellites, AI and more!
  Location: Side Event Room 8, Blue Zone
  This event, co-hosted by the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute and Climate TRACE, focused on some of the latest innovations and globally available free data products and solutions that are making it much faster and easier to comprehensively measure greenhouse gas emissions.
• 14 November, 11:30-13:00: Climate Finance for Fast Action on Methane Reduction and Just Transition in the Waste Sector
  Location: Side Event Room 9, Blue Zone
  GAIA and Climate Policy Initiative shared findings from a new report that aim to identify opportunities and challenges in delivering just and equitable climate finance for delivering fast action on methane reduction in the waste sector. Featuring case studies from Brazil and Indonesia, perspectives from Chilean waste pickers and a city official representing the Zero Waste Cities Network Philippines. Recording available here
• 14 November, 15:00-16:30: Action on super pollutants for climate and health
  Location: Side Event Room 6, Blue Zone
  Super pollutants — specifically black carbon and tropospheric ozone — play a significant role in global warming and climate tipping points and contribute to the more than 8 million premature deaths from air pollution each year. This event spotlighted leaders across regional, national and city levels of governance taking integrated action on climate and health by tackling super pollutants.
• 14 November, 16:45-18:15: Breathing Life into Infrastructure Finance: Integrating Health, Air Quality, Climate and Nature
  Location: Side Event Room 8, Blue Zone
  Multilateral development banks, countries and civil society were convened by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Our Common Air – a high powered commission to boost global finance for sustainable infrastructure linking health, air quality, climate and nature. Participants illustrated progress and launched collective initiatives on the climate-health-nature nexus.
• 15 November, 10:30: Al Gore and Climate TRACE Present New Data Revealing High-Impact Opportunities for Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  Location: Plenary Room 1: Nizami, Zone D, Blue Zone
  As emissions rise and devastating climate disasters impact more communities around the world, decisionmakers — especially those at the subnational level — are looking for opportunities to accelerate climate action. Now, with its latest data release, Climate TRACE can help public- and private-sector leaders identify emissions trends and pinpoint high-impact opportunities to reduce pollutants, including those that lead to deeply inequitable public health outcomes. Recording available here
• 15 November, 14:30-16:00: Accelerating progress to reduce black carbon emissions: an Arctic case study on technical and political solutions
  Location: Cryosphere Pavilion, Blue Zone
  As the Arctic region is highly sensitive to the effects of black carbon, reducing black carbon emissions is crucial for tackling regional warming and protecting human health. This event presented findings from a case study on black carbon emissions reduction, as part of a forthcoming political economy analysis. The session explored the most promising solutions for emissions reduction, considering their political ‘feasibility’ and potential for climate and health impacts. It included reflections from national governments, and most-affected Indigenous communities.
• 15 November, 15:00-16:30: Global Methane Pledge Ministerial
  Location: Side Event Room 8, Blue Zone
  The Global Methane Pledge is catalyzing methane action across the energy, food, agriculture, and waste sectors. The GMP Ministerial at COP29 brought together ministers and other high-level representatives from key organizations to showcase high-profile announcements and progress to reduce methane emissions. It was hosted by CCAC, the United States government and Clean Air Task Force.
• 15 November, 15:30-17:00: Clean Air for Children’s & Newborn Health
  Location: Azerbaijan Pavilion, Green Zone and online (hybrid)
  Co-hosted by Clean Air Fund and IDEA Foundation. This event provided an opportunity to hear from leading child & newborn health and air pollution experts on how to protect our youngest and most vulnerable from the largest global environmental threat, air pollution.
• 16 November, 16:00-17:30: Case for Action on Tropospheric Ozone
  Location: Methane Action Hub, Blue Zone, J1
  Tropospheric ozone aggravates climate change (+0.25 C) and air quality, with severe environmental, public health (500,000 premature deaths worldwide), and agricultural impacts. This event explored key policies to control its precursors – of which the main driver is methane – and how to include tropospheric ozone, as a super pollutant, in the UNFCCC-COP Programs and Decisions.