COP29 Bulletin: Key Developments on Fossil Fuels, Emissions Targets, and Climate Finance
“The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And time is not on our side,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the COP29 Climate Action Summit in Baku today. Guterres called for urgent climate action, saying, “doubling down on fossil fuels is absurd.” He warned that achieving the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires countries to “slash global fossil fuel production and consumption by 30%” by 2030.
“On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price,” Guterres warned, adding that “climate finance is not charity; it’s an investment.”
In response, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev defended his country’s oil and gas exports as a “gift of the god.” Speaking in Baku today, Aliyev criticised his international critics and denied Azerbaijan is a “petrostate,” despite the fact that oil and gas account for two-thirds of the country’s revenue. He said, “I understand that this topic is not very popular at a climate change conference, but, without that, my comments would not be complete.” Aliyev said American “fake news media” should look at their own country, the world’s biggest oil and gas producer.
In another key announcement, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer set a new emissions reduction target of 81% by 2035, building on the country’s climate leadership. “Starmer had failed to match strong words with a strong plan of action,” said Rosemary Harris of Oil Change International.
The developing nations’ group, the G77, made a bold demand for climate finance at the summit, insisting on $1.3 trillion per year to address mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage. They rejected proposals to expand the contributor base to wealthier emerging economies like China and Saudi Arabia. Developing countries say they will not even negotiate on any text that has expanding this base as an option.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell stressed the importance of climate finance, calling it “global inflation insurance” to protect against the rising economic costs of climate change. He said, “Climate action is fast becoming an economy-killer,” pointing out that the impact of climate disasters is “carving up to 5% off GDP in many countries.”
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