Just as I pulled into at Heydar Aliyev International Airport at about 0240 Baku time, I received word that the crucial agreement of a new financial package had been gaveled through at COP29, bringing tense negotiations to a close. As I made my way further through the airport, however, word kept coming to demonstrate that it wasn’t quite so simple.

The COP President took the conference by surprise in quickly hammering through the text, apparently looking the other way as he did so, without taking time to hear objections. Following his approval, country after country took the floor to say that they do not agree with the text, they feel betrayed by the process, and have lost faith in this system.

Make no mistake, the deal reached at COP29 is no cause for celebration. To the contrary, the deal reached and the manner of reaching it spell doom and gloom for multilateral climate processes and the very premise of a rules-based global order.

COP29, dubbed the finance COP, was all about getting together a new global financial package that would help countries get towards their climate goals set out under the Paris Agreement. Since the very first COP, there........

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