Newly appointed COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev said the next UN climate summit, which is set to be hosted by Azerbaijan this year, is committed to reinforcing climate finance for developing countries. He was speaking at the 23rd edition of the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS), which began at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in Delhi on Wednesday.
Babayev – Ecology and Natural Resources Minister in the Azerbaijan government – will lead the discussions when countries meet for the next phase of climate talks later this year. Delivering his first virtual address in New Delhi following his appointment, he said his foremost commitment is to advance the global climate agenda set at COP28 in Dubai.
NEW GLOBAL CLIMATE FINANCE GOAL
“A critical priority is to establish a practical roadmap for the ‘New Collective and Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance’ while recognising the needs of developing nations – which has gone up to nearly USD 6 trillion until 2030. We aim to prioritise the quantifiable targets and indicators, and encourage nations to make concrete commitments to doubling adaptation finance by 2025. This is important to ensure accountability and real progress,” said Babayev.
COP28 concluded in Dubai last December with the first-ever Global Stocktake, which highlighted how the financial pledges made by the rich nations fell short of the trillions needed to support developing countries to make just and equitable energy transitions and implement their national climate plans.
Countries also deliberated on setting a new collective quantified goal on climate finance(NCQG) in 2024, above the current $100 billion annual target, which will take into account the needs and priorities of developing countries. The new goal, which will start from a baseline of USD 100 billion per year, will support the subsequent implementation of national climate plans that need to be delivered by 2025. This comes at a time when the developed nations are yet to provide $100 billion per year by 2020, as promised by them in 2009.
ROADMAP FOR TRIPLING RE CAPACITIES
The COP President-Designate highlighted that the focus will also be on building a clear and actionable roadmap for tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling the rate of energy efficiency by 2030. Over 118 countries had signed on to the global pledge to triple RE capacities; however, India was not one of them. “Our focus extends to developing a framework for the global goal on adaptation, incorporating measurable, time-bound targets for specific themes and sectors,” said Babayev, acknowledging the “widening adaptation finance gap”. He added that the strategy will also be to increase private sector participation.
Germany’s climate envoy Jennifer Morgan who also attended the summit virtually said the next two years are crucial for countries as they prepare their next round of NDCs. “It really gets serious this year for nations to change the international finance and development architecture itself, so it has decarbonisation and risk-resilience by default,” she said. Highlighting that India has a great potential to keep the 1.5℃ ceiling within reach, with its impressive RE targets eventually making it cheaper than oil and gas, she said, the two countries can work together to increase diversification of energy sources. “We are looking to diversify our imports of RE technologies, and India has a role to play there. Germany has about 52% renewable energy capacity, and the grid is phasing out coal. We are keen to transition and build resilience,” she added.
Prof Hoesung Lee, former Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), drew attention to the urgent need to provide effective adaptation support to correct climate justice. “The world’s most vulnerable regions experience 15 times higher human mortality due to floods and droughts in the last ten years. This is the time to set the course of a climate-responsive future,” he added.
Suruchi Bhadwal, Senior Fellow & Director, TERI, concurred that the next five to six years are crucial for the world as a whole to make decisions to promote climate action, reduce emissions, and also build resilience. “These decisions will determine how severe climate change will hit us. Adaptation and building risk resilience is also as important as mitigation,” added Bhadwal.
The three-day summit was inaugurated by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday and is being organised under the theme of ‘Leadership for Sustainable Development and Climate Justice’.
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