Baku [Azerbaijan], November 24: The UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) closed Saturday with a new finance goal to help countries to protect their people and economies against climate disasters, and share in the vast benefits of the clean energy boom.
With a central focus on climate finance, COP29 brought together nearly 200 countries in Baku, Azerbaijan, and reached a breakthrough agreement that will:
Triple public finance to developing countries, from the previous goal of USD 100 billion annually, to USD 300 billion annually by 2035.
Secure efforts of all actors to work together to scale up finance to developing countries, from public and private sources, to the amount of USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
Known formally as the New Collective Quantified on Climate Finance (NCQG), it was agreed after two weeks of intensive negotiations and several years of preparatory work, in a process that requires all nations to unanimously agree on every word of the agreement.
Reacting to the outcome, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that while an agreement at COP29 was absolutely essential to keep the 1.5-degree limit alive, "I had hoped for a more ambitious outcome - on both finance and mitigation - to meet the great challenge we face."
But he continued, this agreement provides a base on which to build and added: It must be honoured in full and on time. Commitments must quickly become cash. All countries must come together to ensure the top-end of this new goal is met."
For many vulnerable nations, it represents a glimmer of hope-but only if commitments translate into swift action. "Commitments must quickly become cash," the Secretary-General stressed, urging all countries to work together to meet the upper end of the new financial goal.
"This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country," said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change. "But like any insurance policy - it only works - if premiums are paid in full, and on time. Promises must be kept, to protect billions of lives."
"It will keep the clean energy boom growing, helping all countries to share in its huge benefits: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all."
The International Energy Agency expects global clean energy investment is set to exceed USD 2 trillion for the first time in 2024.
The new finance goal at COP29 builds on significant strides forward on global climate action at COP27, which agreed an historic Loss and Damage Fund, and COP28, which delivered a global agreement to transition away from all fossil fuels in energy systems swiftly and fairly, triple renewable energy and boost climate resilience.
COP29 also reached agreement on carbon markets - which several previous COPs had not been able to achieve. These agreements will help countries deliver their climate plans more quickly and make faster progress in halving global emissions this decade, as required by science.
Important agreements were also reached on transparent climate reporting and adaptation.
Stiell also acknowledged that the agreement reached in Baku did not meet all Parties' expectations, and substantially more work is still needed next year on several crucial issues.
The finance agreement at COP29 comes as stronger national climate plans (Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs) become due from all countries next year. These new climate plans must cover all greenhouse gases and all sectors, to keep the 1.5°C warming limit within reach. COP29 saw two G20 countries - the UK and Brazil - signal clearly that they plan to ramp up climate action in their NDCs 3.0, because they are entirely in the interests of their economies and peoples.
"We still have a very long road ahead, but here in Baku we took another important step forward," said Stiell. "The UN Paris Agreement is humanity's life-raft; there is nothing else. So here in Baku and all of the countries represented in this room we're taking that journey forward together."
Source: Emirates News Agency