PARIS: COP29 host Azerbaijan said Tuesday that voluntary pledges on everything from tourism to world peace would be sought at the UN climate summit as disagreements over money stymie the main agenda.
Nations are supposed to agree at the November conference how much should be raised for developing countries to cope with climate change but the formal negotiations so far have been mired in disagreement.
With two months to go, Azerbaijan — which has remained upbeat despite the deadlock — has unveiled over a dozen initiatives on the sidelines that it hopes will “supplement” the difficult talks.
These include asking nations to observe a ceasefire during the marathon summit, to commit to reducing methane from organic waste and emissions from the tourism industry, and pledging to boost global energy storage, among others.
“Successive COP Presidencies have supplemented their mandated programs with non-negotiated action agendas... to achieve ambitious outcomes,” COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev wrote to the nearly 200 nations participating in the summit.
Key among these is a fund, proposed by Azerbaijan, that intends to raise money for developing countries through donations from fossil fuel producing countries and companies.
Azerbaijan — wedged between Iran and Russia and heavily dependent on fossil fuels — is expected to make the first contribution to this so-called “climate finance action fund.”
The fund needs $1 billion and 10 countries as shareholders to launch. Azerbaijan says there has already been early interest, but has not offered specifics.
Voluntary initiatives at the COPs, such as non-binding pledges and commitments, are features of these summits but are distinct from the long and protracted negotiations that produce binding agreements, by consensus, with UN backing.
This year’s summit in Baku is supposed to agree on how much developing countries need to adapt to a warming planet, and where that money should come from.
This target will replace the $100 billion that wealthy countries agreed to pay in climate aid, every year, from 2020.
That amount was only reached for the first time in 2022, and has long been criticized as grossly inadequate.
The lead-up to COP29 has been slow, and two months until the final deliberations nations are no closer to agreeing on what the new figure should be, and who should pay it.
The UN published a draft document in late August setting out seven rough options for a finance deal, laying bare the conflicting positions between nations.
COP29 hosts unveil busy program as main climate agenda stalls
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COP29 hosts unveil busy program as main climate agenda stalls
- Key among these is a fund, proposed by Azerbaijan, that intends to raise money for developing countries through donations from fossil fuel producing countries and companies
Top Australian writers’ festival canceled after Palestinian author barred
SYDNEY: One of Australia’s top writers’ festivals was canceled on Tuesday, after 180 authors boycotted the event and its director resigned saying she could not be party to silencing a Palestinian author and warned moves to ban protests and slogans after the Bondi Beach mass shooting threatened free speech.
Louise Adler, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, said on Tuesday she was quitting her role at the Adelaide Writers’ Week in February, following a decision by the festival’s board to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author.
The novelist and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah said the move to bar her was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced a national day of mourning would be held on January 22 to remember the 15 people killed in last month’s shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.
Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group, and the incident sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism, and prompted state and federal government moves to tighten hate speech laws.
The Adelaide Festival board said on Tuesday its decision last week to disinvite Abdel-Fattah, on the grounds it would not be culturally sensitive for her to appear at the literary event “so soon after Bondi,” was made “out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event.”
“Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies,” the board said in a statement.
The event would not go ahead and remaining board members will step down, it added.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British author Zadie Smith, Australian author Kathy Lette, Pulitzer Prize-winning American Percival Everett and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis are among the authors who said they would no longer appear at the festival in South Australia state, Australian media reported.
The festival board on Tuesday apologized to Abdel-Fattah for “how the decision was represented.”
“This is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history,” it added.
Abdel-Fattah wrote on social media that she did not accept the apology, saying she had nothing to do with the Bondi attack, “nor did any Palestinian.”
Adler earlier wrote in The Guardian that the board’s decision to disinvite Abdel-Fattah “weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation, where lobbying and political pressure determine who gets to speak and who doesn’t.”
The South Australian state government has appointed a new festival board.
