2024-07-29 15:42:26
Source: Trend International Information Agency
At COP29 in Baku, rich countries, low-income countries, North and South must unite to address the global challenge of climate change.
As reported by Day.Az, this was stated in an exclusive interview with Trend by the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol.
Key takeaways from previous COP29 dialogues and upcoming meeting in New York
“We had two high-level dialogues on COP29, and they led to several important results. First, I think there was a very high level of participation, both from the countries’ perspective, and from the energy companies and the financial industry. This generated a lot of interest. Second, governments are determined to build on the success achieved at COP28, and this will happen at COP29. Another success story will be written in Baku. And third, this is the inclusive approach of the COP29 team and the government of Azerbaijan, aimed at bringing everyone to the table and finding consensus among countries,” he said.
Birol noted that the discussion is now increasingly focused on the issue of financing.
“This will be a key topic. At the same time, the parties that joined our meetings in Paris and London hope to achieve concrete results at COP29,” he added.
The IEA Executive Director noted that a huge number of applications are being received for participation in the third event, which will be held in September in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“Expectations for COP29 are growing every day. We intend to focus on two things. First, we would like to try to reach a consensus on the issue of financing among countries and bring both developed and developing countries together at a meeting that I will chair together with COP29 President-designate Mukhtar Babayev,” he said.
Birol noted that the second goal is to achieve concrete results on steps to reduce methane emissions, achieve the global battery development goal and the global electricity grid goal.
“These are two different tracks. The first is trying to reach consensus on financing, and the second is building on the success of COP28. We are going to discuss what the next concrete goals can be agreed upon in Baku. Shortly before that event, the International Energy Agency is going to present a report on what the results of COP28 have been and what needs to be done at COP29 to make these trends more sustainable.
Because, as you know, for example, at COP28 there was a decision to triple the capacity of renewable energy and double the energy efficiency, which we proposed to the COP28 President. Now we propose to complement this, to make energy systems secure and to achieve our climate goals, to determine what additional specific measures are needed in terms of batteries, grids and so on,” he added.
The Challenges of Climate Finance
Birol believes that climate finance is the “nerve centre” of all the problems.
“Let me give you some context. This year, about $2 trillion will be invested in clean energy financing worldwide. That’s not good enough, but it’s encouraging. But the problem is that about 85 percent of that $2 trillion is invested in advanced economies and China. Only 15 percent is invested in developing countries, where more than two-thirds of the world’s population lives. So there’s a serious problem here. We have to come up with a mechanism where parties agree to guarantee clean energy financing for developing countries. Because if we can’t do that, we have no chance of meeting our climate goals,” the IEA executive director said.
He noted that the problems cannot be solved solely by increasing climate finance in developed economies and China.
“There are huge emissions in Asia, Africa, Latin America. So for me, this is a critical issue. Both COP29 and COP30 should focus on financing. I believe that in addition to the COP29 presidency, the Brazilian G20 presidency this year should work to get the necessary funds for developing countries,” Birol said.
Ways to create an effective control mechanism
“All roads lead to Baku. Countries need to come up with new nationally determined contributions. They need to decide what they are going to do by 2035. And these plans need to be ambitious enough to achieve the goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. The discussions in Baku will play a very important role here. That is why the International Energy Agency decided to support the presidency of COP29, so that there will be meaningful discussions between the parties on developing ambitious nationally determined contributions.
“If they are not ambitious enough, if they cannot help us reach the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5°, that is a bad result. So the COP29 presidency needs to encourage all parties to have ambitious nationally determined contributions for the next 10 years. All countries and the IEA will fully support the COP29 presidency here,” Birol said.
The IEA Executive Director said that at COP29 he would like to see rich countries, low-income countries, North and South come together to tackle this global problem.
“This is a challenge not only for rich countries but also for poor countries, not only for the North but also for the South, for all countries. If we can put aside the geopolitical divide, the geopolitical differences and focus on the global problem and take some concrete decisions and agree on concrete goals, COP29 will be remembered as a successful milestone in achieving this global goal,” he concluded.
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