Who are the main actors of COP29?

COP29 officially opened today, November 11 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the conference is scheduled to end on November 22, although it is likely to last longer. About 100 world leaders are expected in the first three days, after which the talks will be led by their representatives, mostly environment ministers or other high-ranking officials, reports Guardian.

The key issue for the summit is climate finance. Developing countries want guarantees that trillions will flow to them over the next decade to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the fast-dwindling hope of limiting global warming to 1,5C above pre-industrial levels.

But who will be the main players at COP29?

Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan

Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan since 2003, has used the country's oil wealth to gain international influence but also to benefit his own family. Aliyev is the son of Heydar Aliyev, a national leader when the country was part of the Soviet bloc, which regained power in 1993 after the country's first free post-Soviet elections.

Azerbaijan is rated as one of the most corrupt regimes in the world by Transparency International, with a poor human rights record. Freedom of expression is limited, the media is controlled, and activists have expressed concern about a number of prisoners held since the conflict with Armenia. Aliyev is likely to shrug off such criticism and instead focus on his plans to generate and export renewable energy and efforts to clean up the Caspian Sea.

Mukhtar Babaev, President COP29

The President of COP29 is the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan. Like his predecessor Sultan Al Jaber, who chaired last year's COP28 conference in Dubai, Babayev has experience in the oil industry. He worked for Socar, the country's national oil company, from 1994 to 2018 before being appointed as a minister.

Babayev, an affable and competent figure, is well-reputed among developing and developed countries in the talks, although he was little known before Azerbaijan's surprise decision to host COP29. The selection of the host nation was a difficult process, decided only at the last minute during last year's meeting.

This year it was the post-Soviet bloc's turn to host, and several Eastern European EU members, including Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, have expressed interest. All were vetoed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Azerbaijan was seen as an unlikely possibility because of the conflict with Armenia, which has lasted two decades and erupted into open war last September before entering into an uneasy de facto truce.

But just as organizers were preparing contingency plans, Putin indicated he would go along with the selection. Armenia also supported the candidacy, leaving the president of Azerbaijan to nominate Babayev as the president of the SOR29.

He will be assisted by Yalchin Rafiev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs with experience in diplomacy, who will also be the chief negotiator with foreign delegations.

Sultan Al Jaber, President of COP 28

At last year's summit in Dubai, nations reached a historic agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. It was a weaker commitment than the complete end to fossil fuel use that many countries and activists wanted, but it was the first time in three decades that these talks produced a commitment to tackle the root cause of the climate crisis.

The pledge was largely the work of COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber. A charismatic figure who is also the head of the UAE's national oil company, Adnoc, he dominated the Dubai conference and helped win Saudi Arabia over to the agreed framework.

After COP28, Al-Jaber also led the ongoing influence on the process, helping to introduce a new "troika" system for the COP, where the current presidency joins the previous presidency and the designated next presidency to provide a degree of continuity that should protect the progress made in previous meetings as well as strengthening future commitments.

Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations

The UN Secretary General is perhaps the most senior figure on the world stage regarding the climate crisis. Guterres spoke of humanity committing "collective suicide" and singled out fossil fuel companies that "hold humanity by the throat." Amid rapidly rising temperatures, he warned that we are underestimating the severity of the crisis:

"The era of global warming is over, the era of global boiling has arrived."

Guterres will defend developing nations at COP29, encouraging and chastising rich countries to provide more climate finance. He is likely to be equally forthright with the leaders of countries with high emissions and inadequate plans to reduce emissions, and especially with the heads of fossil fuel companies that have strong interests in Azerbaijan.

Simon Steele, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Simon Steele is the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the treaty under which the COP conferences are held.

"If governments around the world do not step up their efforts, 8 billion people will face the climate crisis directly. We need climate action back at the top of the political agenda," says Steele.

His job at COP29 will be to work closely with the Azerbaijani presidency, acting as a mediator for all 198 countries and guiding the agreement through the complexities of the process.

Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank

With climate finance high on the COP29 agenda, World Bank President Ajay Banga is uniquely positioned to make a difference. But will he order the sweeping reforms to the bank's practices that developing countries say are needed?

The World Bank held its annual autumn meetings last month, but there was little progress on climate finance. The group expects a pledging conference next month, where developed countries must increase the amount of money they are willing to put in to finance developing countries. Focusing on that could mean Banga has nothing to offer Cop29, which is unlikely to satisfy his critics.

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Incumbent President Joe Biden will not attend COP29, and neither will his successor, Donald Trump. During his last presidency, Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement and is likely to do so again. However, the US delegation to COP29 will be from the Biden White House, as Trump will not take office until January. The delegation can still participate in the negotiations, and while they won't be able to bind the US government to clear future financial commitments, they are unlikely to stand in the way of other countries' agreement.

Vopke Hoekstra, European Commissioner for Climate

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, refused to participate in COP29. Hoekstra, who was climate commissioner in the last commission and retains his post for the next one, will lead the EU negotiations in the second week of negotiations. He faces a major challenge - the EU is the world's largest provider of climate finance, but a right-wing tilt in the new parliament and among some member state governments could reduce the bloc's freedom of maneuver during negotiations.

Liu Zhenmin, China's climate spokesman

COP29 will be the first major appearance for China's new climate envoy Liu Zhenmin. His predecessor, Xie Zhenghua, was a key figure at the conferences for two decades and enjoyed a cordial relationship with John Kerry, the US president's special climate envoy. Both retired earlier this year.

Liu Zhenmin and his American counterpart, Kerry's successor John Podesta, have held several meetings this year, including one at Podesta's home. But even the cozy evenings cannot hide the real tension between the two forces. China is the world's largest long-term emitter of greenhouse gases, responsible for nearly a third of global emissions, and is also the world's second-largest economy after the US. Yet China clings to its status as a developing country under the 1992 UNFCCC treaty and refuses to commit to providing financing to the poor world, although it provides such assistance on a voluntary basis and on its own terms.

China will be under fierce pressure from the EU and US to commit to climate finance and demonstrate that its emissions will soon peak and fall sharply in the next iteration of its national climate plan. China and the US will also hold a methane summit at COP29, where campaigners will be hoping for concrete new measures to curb the powerful greenhouse gas, rather than the good intentions that have been the only outcomes of previous talks.

Any surprises coming?

Vladimir Putin visited Azerbaijan in August for meetings with Aliyev to highlight the resurgence of relations that have been strained for the past three years after the COP host took over gas supplies to the EU as the bloc sought to reduce its dependence on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Azerbaijan also has its own ties with Ukraine.

But Azerbaijan has been able to supply the EU so successfully by importing Russian gas for its own needs, demonstrating the relationship that still exists between the two former Soviet states.

Putin's visit in August was the first in six years. He is still unlikely to appear at COP29, but the Russian delegation is likely to have more behind-the-scenes involvement than usual.

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, received a personal invitation to the talks from Aliyev. Modi has missed recent conferences and is considered unlikely to attend this one, but there is still a small chance that Aliyev's insistence will tempt him. India has taken a hard line on climate finance, criticizing developed countries for not doing enough. The country also remains heavily dependent on coal, despite a growing renewable energy sector.

Other powerful state leaders have also been discussed as potential visitors, but few are likely to be among those in attendance. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was invited to COP28 in Dubai but did not attend. Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro may wish to try to legitimize his presidency at the big forum.