COP29 | Rich countries urged to ‘fix’ climate problem

(Baku) The interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, judged on Wednesday that having to fight for money at COP29 was “very humiliating” for the most vulnerable countries which suffer the consequences of climate change for which they are not responsible .

“It is very humiliating for nations to come and ask for money to repair […] the problem that others have caused for them,” Mr. Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said in Baku where he is for the annual UN climate conference.

“Why do we have to come all the way here to negotiate? We know very well what the problem is,” he protested.

At negotiations in Azerbaijan, nations around the world hope to reach an agreement that would significantly increase climate finance for developing countries.

Some want the current $100 billion a year to increase more than 10 times to cover the cost of moving away from fossil fuels and adapting to climate disasters.

Westerners nevertheless appear reluctant to spend more in times of austerity, calling for the mobilization of the private sector.

The usually lively but diplomatic talks are not immune to geopolitical tensions unrelated to the fight against global warming.

The French Minister for Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher announced from Paris that she would not go to COP29 in Baku after “unacceptable” attacks by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev.

He had earlier denounced the “crimes” of “President Macron’s regime” in the French overseas territories. Emmanuel Macron did not come to the summit at the start of COP29.

“Realistic”

The Brazilian Minister of the Environment submitted Wednesday in Baku to the head of the UN Climate the new road map of her country for 2035, a mandatory document within the framework of the Paris agreement and which is still few of States have formally revealed.

For her part, the head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, assured that there was “no single alternative” to fossil fuels, that it was necessary to have a “realistic” vision.

“We cannot rush into industrial oblivion in the name of carbon neutrality,” declared Greek conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

What are we doing here?

These debates are being held in the year that will likely be the hottest ever measured, and will once again break a record for CO emissions.₂generated by the combustion of coal, oil and gas, according to a new estimate from scientists at the Global Carbon Project.

This study adds that the world must aim for net zero CO emissions₂ by the end of the 2030s to hope to contain global warming to 1.5°C, compared to the end of the 19^e century. That is, much earlier than 2050, the horizon currently envisaged by around a hundred countries.

For him, “it is still possible to keep 1.5°C within reach” and an agreement on climate finance by November 22 “will undoubtedly pave the way”.

The general atmosphere of doubt was well summed up by the Prime Minister of a small country usually discreet in this forum, Albania.

“Life continues with its old habits,” regretted Edi Rama. What the hell are we doing in this assembly, if again and again, there is no common political will to unite and move from words to action? »

With Julien Mivielle, Agence France-Presse