Billed as the "finance COP," the 29th UN climate change summit (otherwise known as COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, was expected to provide the money to enable the transition away from fossil fuels announced at last year's COP28.

This year's U.N. climate summit delivered a deal on climate finance two days past deadline, after two weeks of tense negotiations. The summit's main agenda item - setting a new annual target for global climate finance - had nations wrangling for two weeks.

The annual climate conference COP29 happened the same week as the 2024 G20 Rio de Janeiro summit. At both events, those who visited noted that the recent U.S. presidential election hovered over the discourse,