The 29th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP29) on climate change started today with a mention of the deadly floods in Valencia. The climate talks at the Baku summit mark a “moment of truth” for the Paris agreement, the COP29 president said in his opening speech this morning. Mukhtar Babayev, while a US withdrawal from the pact looms after the re-election of donald trump.
“We are on the road to ruin,” said Babayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan, referring to the floods caused by the DANA in Spain or the fires in Australia. Countries arrive in Baku following fresh warnings that 2024 is on track to break temperature records, adding urgency to a contentious debate over climate finance.
In the opinion of the president of COP29, the meeting “will test our commitment to the multilateral climate system. “Now we must demonstrate that we are prepared to meet the objectives we have set.”
The conference must find common ground to increase the goal of 100 billion dollars annually in financing for developing countries to manage climate impacts and stop depending on fossil fuels. How much will be offered, who will pay and who can access the funds are some of the main points of contention that will be discussed at the meeting, which will bring together 50,000 delegates in the capital of Azerbaijan.
Developing countries are pushing for billions of dollars and they insist that the money should mainly be grants rather than loans, AFP reports. “We know that the needs are trillions of dollars, but there are different points of view on how to achieve it,” Babayev said.
“We have also heard that a realistic target for what the public sector can directly provide and mobilize appears to be in the hundreds of billions,” he said. Azerbaijan’s ecology minister and veteran of its state oil company SOCARhas advanced that the negotiations were “complex and difficult.” “We understand the political and financial limitations,” he added.
Developing countries warn that without the money they will struggle to provide ambitious updates to their climate goals, which countries must submit early next year. The small group of developed countries currently providing the money want the donor fund to be expanded to include other wealthy nations and major emitters such as China and the gulf states.
“The COP29 presidency has done everything possible to bring the parties closer together,” said Babayev. «But we still have a lot to do and only 12 days to reach an agreement. “Now we urgently need to finalize the elements, resolve our differences over the contributors and the amount, and establish the new objective,” he added.
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