Some participants at the COP29 climate conference in Baku are giving it high marks for organization and appearance. The proceedings themselves, however, have been tumultuous.

Several attendees have noted the presence of a legion of omnipresent young volunteers who are “polite, smiling, and always ready to help.” The “pristine cleanliness” of the venue, another adds, “feels a bit excessive.” The biggest hassle, some say, is connected to getting to and from the venue, which is sealed behind a vast security cordon. The options for non-VIPs aren’t plentiful. Taking public transport is time-consuming and tight security around the venue means that participants have to walk a half-hour or more before they stand a chance of finding a taxi. 

Inside the Blue Zone, the conference area where the hard bargaining occurs, COP29’s Azerbaijani hosts have lauded a provisional agreement forged November 11, the conference’s first day, that fleshed out guidelines on how “countries can pursue voluntary cooperation to reach their climate targets.” But others say the rules governing carbon credits were pushed through without due process, thus raising questions about their acceptance and durability. 

Closed-door negotiations over the carbon-credit system stretched well into the night on the conference’s first day, forcing repeated delays of plenary sessions. The supervisory body charged with implementing and overseeing the carbon credit mechanism has taken some heat for developing rules while bypassing the chain of command within the COP system. The COP presidency ended up accepting the supervisory body’s plan but told its members to keep on refining the carbon-credit system, leaving open the possibility that it could undergo substantial revisions down the road.

Brazil was the country supposedly most opposed to the supervisory body’s proposed mechanism, but the COP presidency managed to defuse Brazilian displeasure so provisional rules could be adopted. 

Tumult has marked the ensuing days of the conference. On November 13, Argentina’s delegation withdrew from the proceedings. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports that the head of the Brazilian team had become ill injected an additional element of uncertainty. 

Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev also caused a furor by using a speech at an event for island nations to continue a long-running feud with France, castigating Paris for its “colonial rule” in French Polynesia. 

“The crimes of France in its so-called overseas territories would not be complete without mentioning the recent human rights violations,” said Aliyev, referring to a French crackdown on protesters in New Caledonia that resulted in more than a dozen deaths. He directly implicated French President Emmanuel Macron’s “regime” in the deaths.

Aliyev’s jab prompted France’s Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher to announce she would not travel to Baku as originally scheduled. She called Aliyev’s comments “beneath the dignity of the [host] of the COP.”

Non-governmental participants planned to stage several activist events on November 14 in connection with COP29’s “Finance Day.” One of the planned actions was to involve a flash mob coming together just outside the Blue Zone to call for more robust funding commitments to address global warming. A separate action was planned to highlight the hazards associated with carbon markets.

Perhaps the most controversial moment during the early action at COP29 was Polish President Andrzej Duda’s decision to skip the event’s “family photo” because of the presence of Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko. Poland and Belarus are on opposite sides of the Russia-Ukraine war.