Les Echos: COP29 in Azerbaijan to be bridge between developed, developing countries

An article entitled “United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Brazil begin trilateral COP chairmanship” has been published on the French Les Echos news website.

This unusual partnership among the three countries (the COP former, current and future chairmen) aims to strengthen cooperation and sustainability in global climate negotiations. One of the goals of the current presidency is to keep warming to 1.5°C, Azertac reports citing the article.

 The trilateral presidency is an unprecedented configuration in the history of international climate negotiations. The United Arab Emirates, which held the COP28, and its successors, COP29 chair Azerbaijan and COP30 chair Brazil, announced a partnership to improve cooperation and sustainability of global climate negotiations.

During the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 198 signatories tasked the three chairmen to work together on a road map to achieve the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement. UN climate experts estimate that the 1.5°C temperature limit will likely be reached between 2030 and 2035.

The partnership must greatly strengthen international cooperation to advance ambitions for the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions based on the final COP28 agreement, citing the need to review each country's emissions reduction plans for COP30, which will be held in the Brazilian city of Belém in 2025.

The COP28 agreement did not include progress on financial assistance for developing countries, a key issue in global negotiations. Financial assistance to these countries will be the main topic of COP29 in Baku.

Rich countries have fulfilled their initial promise to allocate $100 billion to finance climate change combat by 2022, two years late, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). However, state assistance is still not enough. UN experts estimate that by 2030, developing countries, excluding China, will need $2,400 billion annually.

Les Echos also quotes President of COP29, Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev, who noted that to reach the 1.5°C limit, it is important to define a new funding goal that reflects the scale and relevance of the climate problem.  

He added that the 2024 Baku Climate Change Conference, or COP 29, is intended to become a bridge between developed and developing countries.