As widely expected, the newly elected President of the United States of America announced the country’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement stating incompatibility with its economic and environmental objectives. While numerous countries have rushed to the defence of the Agreement and reiterated their continuous support and commitment to its full implementation, high level officials from Argentina and Indonesia have expressed doubts subsequent to the USA’s withdrawal.   Major US banks have also announced their exit from the Net Zero Banking Alliance in December 2025 following the results of the US Presidential elections.

This comes after the mixed outcome in the polarizing COP 29, dubbed the “Finance COP”, which concluded with a new finance goal of at least $300 billion per year by 2035 for developing country Parties. Substantial decisions were also made under the Article 6.2 and 6.4 agenda items, effectively operationalizing the market-based cooperative approaches of the Paris Agreement. COP 29 also extended the enhanced Lima Work Programme on gender for an additional 10 years and provided further guidance on indicators of the Global Goal on Adaptation. On the mitigation front, three countries submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of the 10 February 2025 deadline showing strong leadership and demonstrating ambitious 1.5C goal-aligned targets. A coalition of both developed and developing countries pledged to submit NDCs featuring topline, economy-wide targets leading to net-zero targets. Unfortunately, no agreement was reached on how to bring the 2024 Global Stocktake outcomes related to the transition away from fossil fuels.

Among other questions, what is the impact of this changing and uncertain landscape on the ambition of the updated Nationally Determined Contributions that Parties are due to submit in February 2025. What are potential policy changes in store?  From an enterprise perspective, what are the significant outcomes of COP29 and the impact of the US”s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on their sustainability strategies and priorities.  In short, what lies ahead for the future of global climate action in the lead up to COP30 in November 2025?

Moderator:

Ms. Danielle Yeow
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow and Lead, Climate Change Law and Policy
NUS Centre for International Law

Panelists:

Ms. Diane Tan
Deputy Director-General
International Affairs Division
Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore

Representative of the Ugandan Energy Ministry

Prof. Petra Minnerop
Director, Centre for Sustainable Development Law
Policy Deputy Executive Dean (Global), Faculty of Social Sciences and Health
Professor of International Law
Durham University

Atty. Cecilia Therese Guiao
Operations Director and Co-Founder, Parabukas
Head Legal Officer, University of the Philippines Institute of International Legal Studies

Mr. Puar Si Liang
Assistant Vice President
Strategy and Development Group (Policy & Analytics)
GenZero