Crucial Political Direction Needed for New Climate Finance Targets, Says COP29 President

This year's UN climate summit president stressed that political direction is crucial to resolve disagreements on new financial targets to support developing countries' climate efforts post-2025.

The central focus of the upcoming UN climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, will be climate finance, specifically the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), which stipulates the annual amount developed nations must mobilize from 2025 to support climate actions in developing countries.

Challenges are anticipated due to the lack of progress made at mid-year UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany.

In a letter to nearly 200 countries, COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev highlighted that political direction is essential for resolving key disagreements, urging high-level discussions.

Babayev noted that climate finance has been one of the most challenging negotiation topics and cannot be resolved by negotiators alone.

Rich nations previously pledged USD 100 billion annually from 2020 at the 2009 Copenhagen UN climate conference to help developing countries, but delays have bred mistrust and contention.

Achieving a fair and ambitious NCQG, considering developing countries' priorities, is the Azeri presidency's top priority, Babayev stated.

He urged all countries to make extra efforts to reach this historic milestone, emphasizing that climate finance actions should surpass previous efforts.

On the same day, UN climate change body head Simon Steill called for climate action to be a top priority for all cabinets.

Steill urged G20 countries to lead with new, transformative national climate plans, highlighting recent climate disasters and their economic impact.

With severe climate impacts already evident globally, Steill warned that without stepped-up efforts, every economy and all eight billion people will face continuous hardship.

(With inputs from agencies.)