Countdown Begins in Defining Twelve Days to Historic Global Climate Deal

Opening Plenary. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kamran Guliyev

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties on climate change has officially kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the promise of striking yet another historic global climate deal and finance adaptation, gender responsive action and financing, and forgotten issues such as food waste are top on the agenda as every action is as crucial as every fraction in the rise or fall of a Celsius degree.

“We meet at a time of complexity and conflict. I stand before you today with a deep sense of purpose, pride and gratitude. By delivering the historic, comprehensive, balanced and groundbreaking UAE (COP28) consensus, we accomplished what many thought was impossible,” said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, outgoing President for COP28 UAE.

Dr. Al Jaber is the first CEO to ever serve as COP President. He urged all parties at this COP, “the Finance COP, to deliver a new collective quantified goal that is robust and capable of fully implementing the UAE consensus. At COP28, we broke new ground and set many precedents. One of the most important precedents was the COP Presidency’s Troika, a new mechanism for momentum that creates a bridge between COPs 28, 29, and 30.”

The Troika, which means three—the UAE, Azerbaijan, and Brazil—presidency of COP28, COP29 and COP30, respectively—aims to build continuity and coherence between presidencies to ensure momentum going from the Dubai Conference into Baku COP in 2024 and beyond into Belem COP in 2025. This will be achieved through an innovative and strategic partnership that can help Parties move from negotiated texts to action and implementation.

“Determination conquered doubt, and your hard work paid off with the first after first for climate progress. And progress didn’t end when the gavel came down on the UAE consensus. In the months since COP28, the initiatives we launched have gathered real momentum and real pace,” he observed.

Stressing that the world is set to break another record in renewable energy growth this year, “adding over 500 gigawatts to global capacity. Fifty-five companies have now joined the oil and gas decarbonization charter, committing to zero methane emissions by 2030 and net zero by or before 2050. This initiative is pragmatic, practical, and focused on real results.”

Incoming COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said that the COP-29 Presidency summit presents an unmissable moment to chart a new path forward for everyone. That it will deliver an inclusive, transparent and party-driven conference and that the plan is based on two mutually reinforcing pillars: enhancing ambition and enabling action.

“This calls for clear climate plans and delivering the finance needed. We mobilize climate finance; we allow for high ambitions. As we signal together higher ambition, we build trust to unlock greater financial commitments. To enable action, the COP29 presidency’s top priority is to agree on a fair and ambitious new collective quantified goal on climate finance. We know that our needs are in trillions, but there are different views on how to achieve them,” Babayev observed.

“We have also heard that the realistic goal for what the public sector can directly provide and mobilize seems to be the hundreds of billions. The COP29 presidency has made every effort to bring the parties close together. But we still have much to do and just 12 days to land a deal. We now urgently need to finalize the elements, resolve our differences on contributors and quantum and set the new goal. These negotiations are complex and difficult,” he stressed

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, said the Secretariat will continue to work tirelessly with what is on hand while being clear on what funding is needed to deliver on what is increasingly being asked of them, keeping the focus firmly on the safe, inclusive and meaningful participation of all observers at this COP.

“In the past few years, we have taken some historic steps forward. We cannot leave Baku without a substantial outcome. Appreciating the importance of this moment, parties must act accordingly.

Show determination and ingenuity here at COP29. We need all parties to push for agreement right from the start, to stand and deliver. Now is the time to show that global cooperation is not down for the count,” Stiell stressed.