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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/17/countries-must-set-aside-differences-and-agree-climate-finance-deal-says-german-minister>
"Governments meeting to forge a global settlement on climate finance must get
over their differences this week and come to a deal – because if talks carry on
until next year they stand little chance with Donald Trump in the White House,
the German development secretary has said.
Jochen Flasbarth, one of the most influential figures at the UN Cop29 summit,
said that if the final days of the summit did not produce a breakthrough
countries would face a much tougher prospect.
“Postponing the decision here to Belém [the city in northern Brazil where next
year’s UN climate summit will be held] is not something advisable,” he told the
Guardian. “We have an increasing crisis in the world, war in the world, and
countries disappearing from global solidarity like the US, and the departure of
the Argentinian delegation. These are clear signals that we will get in
difficult times.”
Two weeks of talks on climate finance are scheduled to end on Friday, with many
developing countries frustrated at what they believed was a lack of progress in
the first week of the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijain. Poorer countries want at
least $1tn a year to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the
impacts of extreme weather.
Rich countries have not yet put a figure on how much they will be prepared to
contribute. A study last week by leading economists suggested that about $500bn
should come from the private sector, and about $250bn from multilateral
development banks such as the World Bank.
The direct provision of grants and loans from developed to developing countries
needs to roughly double, from about $40bn today, they found. However, higher
income countries have not yet agreed to that.
The talks have also been beset by controversy over the influence of fossil fuel
companies. Oil and gas make up 90% of Azerbaijan’s exports, and were described
by the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev, in the opening ceremony as a “gift of
God”. Fossil fuel lobbyists at Cop29 outnumber the delegations of the 10 most
vulnerable countries, and have been given “red carpet” treatment. A group of
senior voices on the climate, including a former UN secretary general, a former
UN climate chief, and a former UN climate envoy, wrote to the UN last week
calling for reforms to the process of Cops – which stands for “conference of
the parties” under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
