COP29 2024

*25 November 2024

COP29 - the United Nations climate conference held at the beginning of November in Baku, the capital  of Azerbaijan - was generally agreed to have failed to provide for a sufficient financial transfer from developed to developing countries, or to make a strong statement about the need to transition away from fossil fuels.

*25 November 2024

Developing countries and environmental groups denounce COP29 deal as 'betrayal'

On the biggest issue under discussion, the transfer of climate finance from the developed to the developing world, the headline figure in the agreement was $1.3tn (£1tn) by 2035. But that masked much smaller commitments in direct finance in the form of grants and low-interest loans, which amounted to only $300bn. Nor is the outcome an injustice whose impact is limited to the global South, of course: if the money isn’t there to support a green energy transition in developing economies, temperatures will rise all over the world.

Analysis by Fiona Harvey    Environment Editor

'The Guardian'       25 November 2024

For a detailed analysis of the financial implications of the COP negotiations and the connections to Scottish climate policy, see this 'Spotlight' article from SPICe (Scottish Parliament Information Centre).

“My point is, what on Earth are we doing, gathering over and over and over if there is no political will on the horizon to go beyond words and unite for meaningful action?”
The Albanian Prime Minister at COP29

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*23 November 2024

Greta Thunberg criticises COP29 failure

The world’s most famous climate campaigner, Greta Thunberg, does not attend Cops these days, and her post on X about Cop29 shows why. She says Cop29 is failing and it is “up to us as a global collective to take the action we so desperately need”.

The Guardian  online      23 November        Damian Carrington

Read the post
 

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*22 November 2024

Climate talks overrun over cash for developing countries

UN climate talks looked set to overrun into the weekend as a deep gulf formed between richer and poorer countries over cash to help those most vulnerable in a warming world.

Wealthier nations offered to more than double to $250bn a year the cash they give developing countries annually to fight climate change.

But poorer countries angrily rejected this as too low, with the group of small island nations saying they were "deeply disappointed" with an offer that showed "contempt for our vulnerable people".

Efforts to limit emissions of planet warming gases were also up in the air, as the meeting went past the official closing time on Friday, with no indication of when agreement might be reached.

BBC News  22 November   Matt McGrath   Environment correspondent

Read the full article

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*15 November 2024

Cop summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’. .

. . say leading climate policy experts

Future UN climate summits should be held only in countries that can show clear support for climate action and have stricter rules on fossil fuel lobbying, according to a group of influential climate policy experts.

The group includes former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and the prominent climate scientist Johan Rockström.

They have written to the UN demanding the current complex process of annual “conferences of the parties” under the UN framework convention on climate change – the Paris agreement’s parent treaty – be streamlined, and meetings held more frequently, with more of a voice given to developing countries.

The Guardian  15 November 2024
Fiona Harvey, Dharna Noor, Damian Carrington and Ajit Niranjan in Baku

Read the full article