COP 29 AT BAKU
The climate summit, a crucial event in the face of the urgent climate crisis, begins on November 11 in Baku, Azerbaijan, a city with a significant historical connection to the fossil fuel industry. Climate leaders from around the world will gather at COP29 in Baku to set global financial targets and address the escalating ecological impact of the Nobel brothers’ pioneering technological advancements.
A complex agenda awaits delegations at the upcoming climate summit. It is structured around two main pillars: first, enhancing ambition with an emphasis on deep, rapid, and sustained emission reductions to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius; second, enabling action by mobilizing the finances necessary for reducing climate emissions, adaptation, and addressing loss and damage.
Both pillars are mutually reinforcing, and progress in one supports advancements in the other. The main components of how COP29 plans to tackle climate finance include:
- The establishment of a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance.
- Enhanced commitments from countries through updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
- The operationalization of effective mechanisms for the Loss & Damage Fund (LDF).
The NCQG will help create a new financial goal for evolving global financial needs. Some studies have projected even higher estimates, at $5.8tr to $13.6tr by 2030. Developed countries are not inclined to commit to obligatory, predictable, and accessible financial contributions, let alone such large sums. Nor have they agreed to link the NCQG with the LDF.
The question from developing countries is desperate: at least 50 percent of climate finance should shift from loans to grants to alleviate debt burdens. And for this, they seek balanced funding for adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage. The biggest challenge for the Baku summit is to finalize the NCQG for the post-2025 period. With this building block, the targets of NDCs can be enhanced, and LDF can be scaled up. The submission of the revised NDCs is due in February 2025.
The NCQG framework has expanded to include nontraditional donor countries. Additional challenging financial instruments are also being discussed, including debt swaps, blended finance, green bonds, payment for environmental services, special drawing rights, policy-based guarantees, and carbon-pricing mechanisms. Each new source of financing will entail new complexities and conditionalities. Most importantly, this menu underlines the need for institutional readiness, legal reforms, and engagement with the private sector.
Pakistan, a proactive participant in the NCQG during COP28 and subsequent UNFCCC meetings, has consistently advocated for a comprehensive approach that integrates social concerns. Its emphasis on the responsibility of developed nations to provide financial support for adaptation efforts and its pivotal role in operationalizing the LDF, which secured pledges amounting to $792 million, demonstrate Pakistan’s significant commitment to climate action.
Pakistan’s significant role in shaping the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement’s implementation and in the Mitigation Work Programme has significantly influenced its approach to the NCQG. Through its integrative approach, Pakistan seeks funding mechanisms responsive to immediate resilience needs, emphasizes grant-based resources, and integrates long-term considerations for loss and damage. Pakistan sees the LDF’s operationalization as a crucial step towards achieving equitable climate finance that aligns with the objectives of the NCQG.
Postscript :
The history of the fossil fuel industry has come full circle. Nobel Prize founder Alfred Nobel and his brothers made their money by establishing Branobel, one of Baku’s largest oil producers. Branobel introduced several technological innovations, including the first oil pipeline in Russia and railway and commercial shipping lines to facilitate oil transportation.
*****