Argentina withdrew this Wednesday from the Baku climate summit on the orders of its president, Javier Milei, on the third day of COP29, where negotiations on climate financing are progressing slowly and countries remain very polarized. Up to 85 people are accredited to COP29 from the Argentine delegation, which was present at the summit until today, when the envoys no longer visited the venue where the meeting is being held until November 22.
The decision to withdraw was also made public on the day of the publication of the results of a report which adds to the pessimism on the environment: the “Global Carbon Budget” for 2024, which forecasts an increase of 0.8% of global CO2 emissions in 2024., compared to the previous year.
The paper, published in the scientific journal Earth System Science Data, includes data on reforestation rates and fossil fuel use around the world, and quantifies CO2 emissions and the capacity of natural sinks (plants and oceans) to capture them, which gives an idea. overall idea of the carbon cycle situation.
Talks
The UN climate summit in Baku reached the middle of its first week without major progress on financing, the central issue to be negotiated in Baku, which has left developing countries “very frustrated” by the lack of of progress, according to sources commenting on the process.
This Wednesday, the co-hosts of the negotiations on the new quantified and collective climate financing objective published what technicians call a “draft for examination”, a preliminary text which includes numerous options and which must be refined then negotiated by the country.
The new quantified and collective target for climate finance is at the center of the Baku discussions and will be the star of the text that will eventually become the final agreement at the UN climate summits.
But the draft currently on the table is a “very long” document, 30 pages, and covers even more options than those already included in the results of the working group on this issue, which has been going on for three years. . by specifying the details of the objective: from the total amount to the structure it will adopt.
This objective, which by mandate of the Paris Agreement must be adopted in 2025, will replace the one which planned to allocate at least 100 billion dollars per year by 2020, in order to finance the decarbonization of economies, adaptation to impacts of climate change, and losses and damage caused by phenomena derived from global warming.
The bloc of developing countries and China (G77+China) ultimately proposed a total annual amount of financing for this goal, at $1.3 trillion; But it remains to be seen what the developed countries’ proposal is, which has not yet proposed any options regarding what they call the “quantum” of the objective.
A group of multilateral development banks also announced Thursday their commitment to allocate a total of $120 billion for climate finance in low- and middle-income countries by 2030.
The financial estimates cover lenders such as Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank Group, African Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Development Bank of the Council of Europe (ECB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). ), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the New Development Bank.
Reduction of emissions
Concerning the mitigation of global warming, the other major subject to be negotiated in Baku, Brazil presented its emissions reduction plans for 2035 to the UN on Thursday: it is targeting an emissions reduction of 67% for that year. , compared to those published in 2005.
At a news conference, Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva avoided detailing how much money she said developed economies should transfer to developing countries from 2025 to help them with their plans. climate change, but noted that current commitments of $100,000 million per year “have proven insufficient.” .”
Brazil is the second country, after the United Arab Emirates – which plans a 47% reduction compared to 2019 – to officially present its updated commitments to reduce its emissions, national plans that all states are called to present before February 2025.
Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, have made their intentions public but have yet to formally outline plans. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that he wanted to reduce the United Kingdom’s emissions by 81% by 2035 compared to 1990.
