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The COP29 climate summit in Baku features key announcements on climate finance, with Multilateral Development Banks setting a $120 billion annual climate financing goal for low and middle-income countries by 2030. The Millennium Challenge Corporation has announced $905 million in clean energy grants for Sierra Leone, Belize, and Côte d’Ivoire, while discussions highlight concerns about women’s representation and increasing fossil fuel emissions.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have used Frontier supercomputer to train ORBIT, the world’s largest AI model for weather prediction, capable of providing hyperlocal weather forecasts up to 30 days in advance with 90-95% accuracy for short-term and 60-80% for long-term predictions. The model uses 113 billion parameters and achieved speeds of 1.6 exaflops during training, making it the fastest AI foundation model for weather/climate predictions.

The UK Foreign Secretary announces multiple climate initiatives at COP29, including £9.1 million for Congo Basin protection, £100 million for British International Investment’s Mobilisation Facility, and a $280m guarantee for the IFCAP initiative. The UK commits to protecting forests, supporting indigenous communities, and maintaining its £11.6bn climate finance commitment from 2021/22 to 2025/26, with £3 billion allocated for nature protection.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has secured new agreements at COP29 to promote decarbonisation of global export credit financing and has established the first-ever set of decarbonisation target-setting protocols for export credit agencies. UKEF has also signed a bilateral agreement with Indonesia’s PLN to support energy transition, with £3 billion available for Indonesian buyers, while committing to facilitate £10 billion in financing for clean-growth projects by 2029.

The Dutch Emissions Authority announces draft amendments to implement the revised European Renewable Energy Directive (RED3) through changes to the Decree on renewable energy for transport. The amendments include new obligations for land, inland shipping, maritime and aviation sectors, limits for conventional fuels, and rules for renewable energy credits, set to take effect January 1, 2026.

Natural England’s project uses AI, underwater microphones, and eDNA to study UK marine mammals.