Negotiations on the future quantification of climate financial aid that wealthy nations owe to developing countries, the primary objective of COP29, have not yielded “the necessary progress,” lamented the Azerbaijani president of the summit on Wednesday.
After the $100 Billion Annually, What Should Be the New Aid Target for Wealthy Nations?
“We call upon all parties to accelerate and surpass their initial negotiating positions,” wrote Mukhtar Babayev in his first official letter to the approximately 200 nations he must lead to an agreement at the conclusion of the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku (November 11-22).
Read the official letter from the COP29 president to the Parties
During the latest talks in June in Bonn, “the divergences between parties prevented us from achieving the necessary progress,” regretted the Azerbaijani minister.
Following COP28 in Dubai, with its debates focused on ending fossil fuels, the burning question of COP29 is financial: it must set a new target for aid provided by wealthy nations, the primary historical emitters of greenhouse gases, to developing countries to invest in clean energy and adapt to climate change.
The current target of $100 billion annually was only reached in 2022, two years late, further eroding trust between the North and the South.
Developing countries want to multiply the future target beyond 2025. India suggested $1 trillion, a target rejected by donors, mainly Western countries and Japan, who want to see China and Gulf countries, other historical contributors, also contribute.
“Retreat” in Azerbaijan and Appointment of Facilitators
Agreeing on a “new, fair, and ambitious goal” (NCQG) is the “number one priority” of the Azerbaijani presidency, reminds the representative of this oil and gas power in his 11-page letter, highly detailed on climate finance but silent on accelerating the phase-out of oil, coal, and gas, defended by Azerbaijan as “transition energy.”
“Our vision is based on two parallel pillars” that “mutually reinforce each other,” explains the COP29 presidency: “accelerating ambition,” meaning encouraging countries to further reduce CO2 emissions, and “activating action,” in other words, unlocking financing.
Faced with blockages, the presidency invited the chief negotiators of the countries to a “retreat” on July 26-27 in Shamakhi, the former capital of Azerbaijan, and appointed a duo of facilitator ministers in advance, the experienced Danish Dan Jørgensen and his Egyptian counterpart Yasmine Fouad.
However, “politically complex issues” like climate finance “will not be resolved by negotiators alone,” warns Mr. Babayev, boasting of having already brought them “to the political agenda with heads of state and ministers in all multilateral and bilateral forums,” particularly at the G7.