COP29 Day 8: Climate Finance, Youth Voices, and Urgency for Action

On day eight of COP29 in Baku, key concerns over climate finance and the urgent need for more action on global warming have surfaced. 

As the conference progresses, participants have made initial progress on carbon market standards, but talks on climate finance remain slow. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), urged delegates to focus on broader issues, saying, “We can’t lose sight of the forest because we’re tussling over individual trees.” He warned against “bluffing, brinkmanship, and pre-mediated playbooks” that could waste critical time needed for ambitious decisions.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also stressed the need for stronger leadership from the world’s largest economies, declaring, “Failure is not an option” in the face of the climate crisis.

Meanwhile, children and young people made their voices heard at COP29, calling for more attention to the impact of climate change on their lives. They urged decision-makers to involve them directly in climate discussions. UNICEF estimates that nearly 1 billion children are affected by climate change, facing risks like air pollution, floods, and droughts, which disrupt their health, education, and well-being. As one young activist put it, “No decisions about us without us!”

 

COP29 President: “We are on a road to ruin.”