The United Nations conference on climate change, Cop29, has ended [24.11.24] in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Main announcement: the promise of funding of $300 billion per year by 2035 to support the energy transition and adaptation to climate change in developing countries. However, the adopted text does not satisfy everyone, especially African countries.
This was the most contentious point of the summit: how much money will countries considered to be historical polluters have to pay to developing countries? Answer: $300 billion per year for ten years.
Cop29 has in fact decided that 23 developed countries and the European Union will have the obligation to finance 300 billion dollars per year by 2035 to support the energy transition and adaptation to climate change in developing countries.
Developing countries including African countries, which had requested more than $1 trillion in aid, called the deal an “insult” and said it does not give them the vital resources they need to truly tackle the complexities of the climate crisis.
But, for Hussein Alfa Nafo, advisor to the president of the African group in Baku, this agreement is only a starting point:
“We have not set this number. This is a starting point. It was very important for the African Group that this number – 300 billion by 2035 – be a floor and not a ceiling. And we We were able, very late in the negotiation, to add the term “at least” to ensure that this is only a starting point, a minimum due to the vast needs of developing countries .”
The distrust is great
The adopted text provides that the contribution of rich countries comes from their public funds, supplemented by private investments that they mobilize or guarantee, or by “alternative sources”: possible global taxes on, for example, the great fortunes, aviation or maritime transport.
For Avantika Goswami, program manager at the Center for Science and Environment, the game is far from won:
“We saw the developed countries reluctant to commit from the start. They then presented a very, very insufficient offer. And that really created a lot of distrust. Even greater distrust. In a process already eroded by lack “It is therefore not certain that these multilateral agreements can be maintained, given that the commitments are simply not respected.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed mixed feelings about the funding agreement, urging states to view it as a “foundation” to be consolidated.
The UN chief stressed that “an agreement at Cop29 was absolutely essential to maintain the limit of 1.5 degrees”, the objective of maximum warming of planetary temperatures compared to the pre-industrial era. “And the countries kept their promises.”
Germany for a new approach
Germany, for its part, insisted on the need for a new approach to the financial aid expected from historic polluters for the poorest countries.
“Europe must “assume its responsibilities, but without making promises it cannot keep”declared German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
For the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, this agreement “marks a new era” in cooperation on climate and its financing.
Joe Biden, the American president, also welcomed the Baku agreement. He sees it as an “important step” in the fight against global warming.
Disappointment on the other hand from France. The agreement concluded this Sunday is “not up to the challenges”, regretted the French Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
The minister particularly regretted that the expansion of the base of contributors to emerging countries with incomes sometimes now higher than certain developed countries, such as China, India or South Korea, has remained “fairly limited”.
The agreement comes after the anger expressed earlier Saturday by delegates from the forty-five most vulnerable countries and around forty small island states, who opposed the financial commitments of developed countries, which they considered too weak.
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