2024-07-30 04:43:57
COP29 is a major milestone in the collective efforts to implement the Paris Agreement.
As reported by Day.Az, this was stated in an exclusive interview with Trend by Slovenian Minister of Environment, Climate and Energy Bojan Kumer during his visit to Baku.
“We made significant progress at last year’s Conference of the Parties, but we know that we cannot afford to stand still and we certainly cannot afford to retreat.
Slovenia, as a member of the European Union, will actively contribute to the success of COP29. We must achieve a new financial target that will help developing countries implement their future climate policies and measures. Slovenia demonstrates its commitment to climate finance, as exemplified by, among other things, its commitment to the Loss and Damage Fund. As one of the smallest donors by country size, this commitment sends an important signal in a difficult multilateral situation,” he said.
Coomer said making progress on mitigation is also key.
“In the EU, we are currently discussing a new climate target for 2040, which will form the basis for an ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to be submitted on time. All these elements, together with the active continuation of last year’s first global stocktaking process, will form the package for a successful COP29. During a meeting with the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev, I was told that preparations are progressing very well. I offered him and his team any assistance from Slovenia,” Kumer emphasized.
According to him, the Slovenian team is fully prepared to constructively participate in negotiations and political initiatives and contribute to the successful outcome of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the COP.
“We also welcome Azerbaijan’s initiative to hold the Day of Peace and Gender Equality. In addition, we actively support youth participation and civil society engagement in COP29. Last but not least, sectors such as water management and agriculture are of paramount importance for both Slovenia and Azerbaijan. We are committed to advancing programmes in these areas, recognizing that sectoral approaches are increasingly important in the fight against climate change,” he said.
Let us recall that in November this year, Azerbaijan will host the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29). The decision to do so was made at the COP28 plenary session held in Dubai on December 11 last year. Over the course of two weeks, Baku, becoming the center of the world, will host about 70-80 thousand foreign guests.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. The abbreviation COP stands for Conference of Parties, which is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The convention has 198 parties. Unless the parties decide otherwise, the COP is held annually. The first COP event took place in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.