“Let’s stop the theater and get to work. » The accusation was made by Simon Stiell, executive secretary of UN Climate, at the resumption of negotiations on the 29th.my Climate Conference of the Parties (COP29), after Sunday’s mid-COP break, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday, November 18.
The dramaturgy of UN conferences often includes these accusations of obstruction, bluffing or fool’s play. But, in general opinion, the result of the first week of COP29 negotiations, which began on Monday, November 11, was practically zero.
The UN seeks for delegates to find common ground on climate financing, but it is Rio and the leaders of the twenty largest powers who are expected to unlock it. Hence the pressure on the ministers, who must seal an agreement before Friday.
“The real difficulties begin”
“This meeting comes at a critical moment: we are halfway to COP29 and the real difficulties begin”warned conference president Mukhtar Babayev. This former executive of the national oil company Socar, Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology, does not have decision-making power but his role is to guide negotiations between the countries.
Seven time zones from Baku, G20 leaders (a group that also includes China and Brazil) meet Monday and Tuesday in Rio, and communications between the two cities have rarely been so intense. Upon arrival in Brazil on Sunday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on leaders to set an example and find “commitments” to save COP29. For months, he and Simon Stiell have taken particular aim at the G20, which rejects three-quarters of greenhouse gases.
The goal of COP29 is to set how the UN funds $1 billion a year in climate aid for developing countries. This money would make it possible to build solar energy plants, invest in irrigation or protect cities against floods.
“It’s easy to feel a little dazed by all these numbers, especially in this financial COP.Simon Stiell acknowledged. But let us never forget: these figures make the difference between safety or disasters that ruin the lives of billions of people. » A statement illustrated by Typhoon Man-yi in the Philippines, very late in the season, which caused deaths in a landslide.
Europe wants China to participate
The European Union is the world’s largest taxpayer, but in times of austerity it is reluctant to increase its international budgets. The figure of $1 trillion in annual aid to developing countries by 2030 matches the estimate of need by renowned UN-commissioned economists Nicholas Stern and Amar Bhattacharya.
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But not everything is supposed to come from rich countries, and that’s the problem. According to UN texts, only developed countries are obliged to help. However, Europe wants commitments from emerging countries like China, the world’s main emitter of greenhouse gases. In Baku, China is not perceived as hostile, far from it, and a meeting between Chinese and European officials was a ray of hope last week.
In Baku, the legacy of COP28 in Dubai and its call for a ” transition “ away from fossil fuels, which countries like Saudi Arabia cannot digest.
The re-election of Donald Trump and the departure of the small Argentine delegation raise fears of an exit of the United States and Argentina from the Paris agreement, the diplomatic engine for the reduction of greenhouse gases. But the arrival of Trump “galvanize” some countries really make progress in Baku, observes a diplomatic source.
The inexperience of the Azerbaijanis to preside over such substantial negotiations, as well as the attacks in the middle of the COP by President Ilham Aliev against a member country, France, have weighed down the atmosphere.
All the more so in a country that represses any sign of dissent, even among environmental activists, several of whom are imprisoned. This was recalled on Monday by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, calling for the release of rights defenders, journalists and activists in Azerbaijan, in a letter addressed to Babayev.
