$1 trillion a year in climate finance'that's the goal. Getting a commitment of this size will be the measure of success of this year's UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, COP29, which is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan. At these conferences, held every 12 months, everyone has a microphone'small islands with 10,000 inhabitants sit next to the giant countries of the world as they try to make decisions on how to curb climate change and its impacts. The meeting kicks off today with a plenary, and tomorrow will hear from heads of state and their environment ministers. They will then make way for the negotiators and so-called sherpas: the people who prepare the text of the conference's decisions. To avoid stalemate, these final decisions are approved by consensus rather than voted on; approval is obtained in the absence of overt objections, though the decisions' text may be repeatedly amended in order to reach an agreement. Here's what to look out for. In Copenhagen in 2009,...
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