The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's Conference of the Parties (COP) serves as the world's top decision-making forum on climate issues, where representatives from nearly 200 countries gather annually to negotiate global climate goals and commitments. This year's conference was scheduled to run from November 11-22 but extended through November 24.
As delegates gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan, for COP29, UN climate chief Simon Stiell urged participants to "cut the theatrics" and address the pressing challenges of climate finance. The summit's central focus was negotiating a new global financial settlement, specifically how to channel at least $1 trillion annually to developing countries to address climate issues.
This conversation, among other crucial discussions, occurred against a backdrop of mounting evidence that the Paris climate agreement's 1.5° C target is increasingly out of reach, with the planet likely to register its first breach of this threshold in the coming months, and the pledge by President-elect Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from the agreement altogether.
Despite these high stakes, national TV news coverage was notably sparse.
On cable:
- CNN aired 40 minutes across 15 segments.
- MSNBC aired 7 minutes across 3 segments.
- Fox News aired 7 minutes across 5 segments. (Some segments evinced skepticism about climate action.)
On broadcast:
- CBS aired 3 minutes in 1 segment.
- ABC aired less than 1 minute in 1 segment.
- NBC did not air any segments during the studied period.
While delegates grappled with complex questions around expanding the contributor base beyond traditional industrial nations and balancing public and private sector funding requirements, most of this critical policy work received minimal attention. Eleven of the segments that did air, however, effectively highlighted the looming threat of a second Trump administration to global climate action at this particularly precarious moment.
These segments included the November 14 episode of MSNBC's Chris Jansing Reports, which featured Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) addressing global reaction to President-elect Donald Trump's promised withdrawal from the Paris agreement and how Trump's “well-paid fealty … to fossil fuel interests” threaten global climate progress.
The November 11 episode of CBS Mornings examined how Trump's victory could derail international climate cooperation.
And the November 11 episode of CNN Newsroom Live explored how Trump's pledge to exit the Paris agreement and plans to expand fossil fuel extraction would undermine both COP29 negotiations and outgoing President Joe Biden's climate agenda.
