At COP29, an agreement with a very bitter taste for the countries of the South

Turbulence until the end of the debates, a leaden atmosphere and blind steering on the part of the Azerbaijani presidency… After two weeks of a slow descent towards an undetermined landing strip, the 29^e Climate Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, concluded on Sunday, November 24, in the division.

At the end of the night, an agreement on climate finance was certainly obtained in a struggle. But it was immediately contested out loud by some developing countries in an electric atmosphere, unprecedented in the heart of this UN forum governed by consensus. The high point of two weeks during which the multilateralism of the COP, until now rather protected from geopolitical crises and ongoing wars, was hit a wall between North and South.

Around three o'clock in the night of Saturday 23 to Sunday 24 November, after the arrival of a final text and multiple moments of hesitation, the president of the COP, Mukhtar Babayev, uses the same technique as some of his predecessors , such as Laurent Fabius, during COP21 in Paris, or Sultan Al-Jaber during that in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), last year. A quick look around the room and his gavel immediately drops, sealing the adoption of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). Crucial text of this conference, the agreement provides that developed countries pay 300 billion dollars (287 billion euros) in financial aid to developing countries to finance their climate transition by 2035.

Far from expectations

After applause and a standing ovation from part of the room, the representative of India took the floor. “We are hurt, very hurt by what the presidency and the secretariat have donedeclared Indian delegate Chandni Raina, who had indicated that she wished to speak before the gavel. India does not accept this proposal in its current form. This document is an optical illusion. »

She is acclaimed, as are the representatives of Cuba, Bolivia and Nigeria who accuse rich countries of not assuming the cost of their historic greenhouse gas emissions. “Developed countries want us to respect the threshold of +1.5°C of warming, but are opposed to developing countries having the means to reduce their emissions”continues Diego Pacheco, head of the Bolivian delegation. New ovation in the plenary of the COP, which had never experienced such protest. A snub for Azerbaijan and a deep dent in climate diplomacy.

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