COP29 has concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan. The two-week climate conference overran two days as negotiations worked towards a new global finance goal.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The UN environmental program shows that current policies are leading us to three degrees of
00:07warming.
00:09These temperatures would be catastrophic for billions.
00:13They would threaten the existence of communities' representatives in this room.
00:20Colleagues, we are on the road to ruin.
00:24But these are not the future problems.
00:28Climate change is already here.
00:33Distinguished delegates, it gives me great pleasure to declare open the 29th session
00:40of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
00:48Sultan Al-Jaber handing over to President-designate Muqtaba Bayev and opening COP29 in Baku in
00:55Azerbaijan.
00:56The conference began amidst stark warnings and calls to enhance ambition and enable climate
01:01action.
01:02It got off to a promising start on day one with the approval of international standards
01:07in relation to the global carbon market under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, the International
01:14Treaty on Climate Change.
01:16The best thing that we have reached on the first day was agreeing on a decision on Article
01:236.4 endorsing the SPM standards that have been agreed in early October in Baku.
01:31That was a long-awaited decision to be made at the COP, 10 years of hard negotiation process
01:38and the last three COPs, several attempts to get it adopted, but finally we got it done.
01:43And having it on the first day really set the mood in the negotiating rooms.
01:48Over 40,000 attendees and 100 heads of state attended this actionable COP and the unwavering
01:54consensus was that the time for action is now.
01:58Floods in Valencia and Hurricane Milton are examples of how extreme weather is impacting
02:03the world.
02:04A report by the International Chamber of Commerce has revealed that it's cost the global economy
02:08almost 2 trillion euro over the last 10 years.
02:12What we've done in pulling together this report is to show the actual damage from climate-related
02:18events has actually now reached the same level as what occurred at the same time as
02:24the global financial crisis and the world leadership decided they do something about
02:28it.
02:29Well, we're saying that's where we are.
02:30You can't keep kicking it down the road.
02:32We've announced it now as we go into COP 29, it's time to actually do things.
02:37COP 29 was dubbed the Finance COP and the scaling up of climate finance through global
02:43financial interoperability as well as the impact on developing economies was high on
02:48the agenda.
02:49The European Investment Bank is bringing concrete solutions to the table.
02:54Through climate resilience clauses, through climate debt swaps and conversions, all those
03:00countries that are at the forefront of climate change and are extremely vulnerable because
03:05of high indebtedness, we are providing solutions.
03:09Just recently this week we're going to be signing agreements that will also foster the
03:13green bond market worldwide so that we can mobilize and scale up the necessary finance
03:19to make this green transition a global success.
03:23Despite best efforts and appeals for compromise and solidarity, a global finance deal could
03:28not be agreed upon before COP 29 was due to finish and it overran by two days.
03:34Finally, a breakthrough agreement was reached to triple finance to developing countries
03:39from the previous goal of 100 billion US dollars to 300 billion annually by 2035.
03:46It has been a difficult journey but we've delivered a deal.
03:52This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity amid worsening climate impacts
04:00hitting every country.
04:03After almost a decade of hard work where several previous COPs were not able to get this done.
04:13No country got everything they wanted and we leave Baku with a mountain of work to do.
04:23The many other issues we need to progress may not be headlines but they are lifelines
04:30for billions of people.
04:32So this is no time for victory laps.
04:35We need to set our sights and redouble our efforts on the road to Belling.
04:41While some were disappointed it wasn't near the 1.3 trillion dollars developing countries
04:45were asking for, some delegations acknowledged that the Baku breakthrough was a step in the
04:50right direction to safeguard the future and ensure more money flows.