At the UN climate conference COP29 in Baku, delegations failed to complete work on the final document today, November 22, and consultations will continue, radio station France-Enfo reports.
According to the plan, the conference was to end on Friday at 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. Moscow time). However, until then no compromise had been reached and now the negotiators will be forced to stay in Azerbaijan longer than expected.
The broadcaster explains that the main debate revolves around how much money should be allocated to developing countries to combat the effects of climate change.
Earlier on Friday, organizers released a provisional version of the final statement, which said authorities in developed countries should aim to allocate $250 billion a year by 2035 to help developing countries combat climate change. The document also “calls for working together to achieve, using public and private funds, an increase in financing for developing countries’ climate change initiatives to at least $1.3 trillion by 2035.”
Such formulations were not liked by many conference participants. Kenyan negotiator Ali Muhammadrepresenting African countries at COP29, said that $250 billion a year is not enough. He called the developed countries’ proposal “completely unacceptable and does not take into account reality.”
According to Interfax, some developing countries have previously demanded clear commitments to allocate $1.3 trillion a year in climate change finance. Another group of developing countries, led by China, demanded that at least $500 billion be allocated annually.
The EU has not publicly announced how much it would be willing to spend, but Brussels has warned that in exchange for funding it will require developing countries to, among other things, make efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Arab countries oppose this approach, seeing in the European initiative a desire to limit hydrocarbon production.
COP29 chief negotiator, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiyev, said Baku will continue to work with the parties to make final adjustments to issues that remain unresolved.
“We will try to ensure the most ambitious outcome of this conference, putting pressure on all parties to achieve the goal. The annual financing amount of 250 billion dollars does not correspond, according to the presidency, to a fair and ambitious objective, but interaction with the parties will continue. We continue to consult on this issue, but hope to make progress. The amount will still be considered by the parties and then, when we receive the final agreement, we will be able to comment.” – said Rafiev, summarizing the results of the COP29 day.
