COP29 Presidency Proposes 1,500 GW Energy Storage Target By 2030

COP29 Summit Proposes 1,500 GW Energy Storage Target By 2030

The Conference of Parties (COP29) Presidency today announced its Initiatives as part of its “Action Agenda” to give an impetus to climate action and to supplement the formal negotiated COP agenda. In a letter addressed to all Parties and non-party stakeholders, COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev outlined the details of the package and how global stakeholders can contribute to the global event’s vision to enhance ambition and enable action. 

The hosts of this year’s global climate talks will ask over 190 countries to back a Group of Seven target to increase global energy storage capacity more than sixfold by 2030. Additionally, battery prices have been declining, making them cheaper. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes batteries now cost 90 percent less than they did 15 years ago. Bloomberg NEF estimates the average cost of lithium-ion battery packs has dropped to $139 per kWh in 2023, down from ~$800 per kWh 10 years earlier.

The Action Agenda tackles the world’s most pressing climate problems, highlights forgotten priorities, and provides a platform for a wide array of actors to come together. It also reflects Azerbaijan’s capabilities and contributions to the fight against climate change, as COP is being held in the Caucasus for the first time. This represents an effort by the COP29 Presidency to drive action across all climate pillars and covers a range of key priorities, such as energy, finance, agriculture, cities, human development, and the climate-peace nexus, among others. Many of these initiatives, particularly the Baku Initiative on Climate Finance, Investment and Trade (BICFIT), the Baku Initiative on Human Development for Climate Resilience, and the Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) for Resilient and Healthy Cities, integrate and address cross-sectoral synergies.

In the COP29 pledges and declarations, governments and non-governmental entities will collaborate on the principles and pathways to enhance ambition in their next collective steps to confront the climate crisis. The COP29 Presidency will share draft texts with all parties and constituencies for review and feedback as part of its transparent and inclusive approach. The COP29 Presidency will then finalize the texts and republish them on the COP29 website in due course.

Partnerships & Climate Actions 

Through the launch of these initiatives, the COP29 Presidency is establishing a range of platforms, partnerships, and programs to enable action before, during, and after COP29. Finance, as a critical enabler of climate action, is central to the COP29 Presidency’s vision, so the initiatives have been designed with a special emphasis on delivering the means of implementation.

COP29 UN High-Level Climate Champion Nigar Arpadarai said, “Now is the time for the whole universe of climate stakeholders to sign up, speak up, and step up on climate action. If we are to meet our goals, we need everyone to do their part. This is your chance to play an important role in COP29.”

Pairing batteries with solar panels can create cheaper alternatives to conventional power plants that run on fossil fuels, according to the IEA. However, analysts warn that prices need to fall further for demand to grow. Countries are also concerned about supply shocks due to their dependence on China for lithium-ion batteries.