COP29 opens in Baku with focus on new climate finance goal and global energy transition

iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), kicked off in Azerbaijan’s capital city of Baku on Monday, November 11.

This year’s climate conference is aimed at seeking a new climate change funding goal to replace the existing collective target of mobilizing and providing $100 billion annually by developed countries in support of developing countries.

The conference, scheduled for November 11-22, will also focus on such topics such as global carbon trading market, as well as global energy transition from fossil fuels.

The new goal “must be effective and adequate” to address the urgent problems, said Mukhtar Babayev, the COP29 president-designate and Azerbaijan’s minister for ecology and natural resources at the opening ceremony.

He added that the goal should also “address the needs and priorities of developing countries” and include detailed qualitative elements.

“Colleagues, we are on a road to ruin. But these are not future problems. Climate change is already here,” Babayev said.

“Whether you see them or not, people are suffering in the shadows. They are dying in the dark and they need more than compassion, more than prayers and paperwork. They are crying out for leadership and action. COP29 is the unmissable moment to chart a new path forward for everyone.

“We need much more from all of you. COP29 is a moment of truth for the Paris Agreement. It will test our commitment to the multilateral climate system. We must now demonstrate that we are prepared to meet the goals we have set ourselves,” Babyev added.

The parties “must agree on a new global climate finance goal,” said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, calling on participants to work harder to reform the global financial system.

COP, or Conference of the Parties, refers to a series of formal meetings where governments assess global efforts to advance the Paris Agreement and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, with the aim of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

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