COP29 president-designate sends official letters to conference countries

Articles in various international publications report that Mukhtar Babayev, President of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, has issued official letters to the governments of COP29 member states.

An article from the British edition of Business Green on July 18 stated that the main focus of the upcoming COP29 climate summit will be reaching a global agreement on a new climate finance target, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

"The COP29 climate summit president has confirmed that reaching global agreement on a new climate finance target will be the main point of negotiation at the upcoming session of the conference." It is noted that the COP29 President calls on governments to submit updated national climate plans to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. It is also emphasised that the definition of a New Collective Quantified Goal On Climate Finance (NCQG) will be a priority issue for the PRA29 Presidency.

The letter also mentions the need to "agree on an ambitious and realistic climate finance target, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing country Parties to the Framework Convention."

According to the COP29 president, countries will have to work together to agree on climate finance targets. "This is not only our priority. We must do everything we can to reach this historic milestone together," the letter emphasises.

In addition, Babayev informed about the events and meetings to be held in the run-up to the climate summit, which will be held in Baku with the participation of ministers of countries that have acceded to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and as representatives of negotiating groups and NGOs. The publication noted the importance of taking steps to ensure the full functioning of the Loss and Damage Compensation Fund, launched last year at COP28 in Dubai to help poor and developing countries cope with the effects of climate change.

The letter from the President of SOR29 was released on the same day that Simon Steele, Executive Secretary of the FCCC, who visited his home island of Carriacou in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl and was shocked by its devastating effects, wrote a video message to the international community. Preliminary reports indicate that 98 per cent of homes and buildings in Carriacou, part of the Grenadines archipelago, were destroyed or significantly damaged.

"Right now I'm at my neighbours' house. My grandmother's house on the next street over is completely destroyed," Steele said. As Business Green notes, climate disasters not only cripple lives, but also have long-term costs.

"This means that all governments must put the fight against climate change at the top of their agenda," the FCCC executive secretary said in a video posted on his social media page X, adding that better plans for adaptation, resilience and community protection are needed.

"While in our home on Carriacou Island, my compatriots and I witnessed the devastation so familiar to hundreds of millions of people around the world. The catastrophe that the climate crisis brought to my grandmother's home should not become the new normal for humanity," concluded Simon Steele.

Business Green is the UK's leading business publication that publishes articles on the green economy and environmental issues.