UN Secretary-General, “Failure on Climate Finance is Not an Option.”

With a little under twenty-four hours left before COP29 wraps up in Azerbaijan’s capital, negotiators are still at an impasse over a new climate finance goal to help developing countries tackle flash flooding, drought, wildfires, and other natural disasters worsened by human activity. The first draft of a potential agreement was released early Thursday morning, receiving mixed reactions from government negotiators and civil society groups. The draft, divided into two main sections, outlines proposals from both developing and developed countries. However, some key issues, including funding goals, remain unresolved.

 

Speaker 1

“I’m really sorry to say, but the text we now have in front of us, in our view, is imbalanced, unworkable and unacceptable.”

 

Speaker 2

“In the current text, some of these calls are hidden, pared back, or minimized.  These shouldn’t be hidden, we showed own them and be proud of them and reinforce them.  This is a big step back and it is not acceptable at this current moment of crisis.”

 

Speaker 3

“The current proposed text is severely lacking in ambition, but it can serve as a starting point for enhancing the mitigation action required to reach the 1.5 target.  In addition, the text does not cover the full scope of issues that we have been discussing over the last few weeks and we will seek a way of reintroducing them where possible.”

 

Speaker 4

“So far, our development partner has not responded to our request of a figure because without a figure, the rest is really important but we need a figure as a headline to really determine whether we are making progress and the people outside of this room are expecting us to come up with that.”

 

Speaker 5

“Negotiations are moving far too slowly to meet the scale of the challenges we face.”

 

Speaker 6

“Unfortunately, the document still lacks substantive elements such as a concrete number on quantum.  We hope that very soon, we will find the number which is commensurate with the needs and priorities of the developing countries.”