PARIS: A key meeting ahead of the UN COP29 climate summit ended Friday in frustration with countries making little progress over how to fund a new finance deal for poorer nations.
Delegates were urged to put aside differences and move negotiations forward during the two-day “pre-COP” in Azerbaijan, which is hosting the major climate talks in November.
Not all countries were represented so smaller gains, rather than concrete breakthroughs, were hoped for during the Baku meet.
But the gathering wrapped with nations no closer to resolving the same sticking points that have hindered the talks for months, attendees told AFP.
“Despite some hopeful talk of coming together, countries remain quite far apart,” said Iskander Erzini Vernoit, co-founder and director at the IMAL Initiative for Climate and Development, who was present in Baku.
At COP29, countries are supposed to agree on a new goal for “climate finance” that meets the needs of the world’s poorest countries in dealing with global warming.
The existing amount of $100 billion a year is considered insufficient and rich countries are under pressure to raise their contributions by at least a factor of 10.
Donors have still not said how much they are willing to pay, frustrating those advocating for a larger financial commitment from the countries most responsible for climate change to date.
“It is outrageous that just weeks before COP29, developed countries did not say how much money they are willing provide for this new finance goal,” said Mariana Paoli from Christian Aid.
Some developed countries want the pact to offer mixed layers of finance: one from governments, another from multilateral lenders, and private capital.
But Paoli said without developed countries agreeing to pay from their coffers without strings attached “any number at COP will be a meaningless figure.”
Most climate finance comes as loans, and developing countries say it worsens their debt problems.
They are pushing for unconditional grants to finance clean energy and climate adaptation measures, and want funding for disaster relief known as “loss and damage” included in any new deal.
Rebecca Thiessen from the NGO coalition CAN said it was “positive” to hear rich nations at Baku talk of a pact in trillions instead of billions.
“The scale of need has been recognized, but no figure has been put on the table,” she said.
Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
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Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- Delegates were urged to put aside differences and move negotiations forward during the two-day “pre-COP” in Azerbaijan
- At COP29, countries are supposed to agree on a new goal for “climate finance” that meets the needs of the world’s poorest countries in dealing with global warming
Zelensky blasts EU's lack of political will against Putin
- Ukrainian president says he reached agreement with Trump around post-war US security guarantees for his country
- In a fiery speech, he slammed his main political backers in Europe over their 'inaction'
DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in a fiery address criticizing some of Kyiv’s top allies at the World Economic Forum.
The speech to the Davos elite came minutes after Zelensky had met with US President Donald Trump, a conversation he said had brought agreement about what post-war US security guarantees for Ukraine would look like.
Zelensky did not say what they included, only that they were “done” and were ready to be signed by the leaders and ratified by the Ukrainian parliament and US Congress.
But in a marked departure from his usual warm rhetoric toward the European Union, Kyiv’s main political and financial backers, Zelensky slammed what he cast as inaction.
“What’s missing: time or political will?” he said at one point, referencing delays over the establishment of a European war crimes tribunal on the Russian invasion.
He also said Europe, without mentioning any single country, was failing to agree on how to address global problems.
“There are endless internal arguments and things left unsaid that stop Europe from uniting and speaking honestly enough to find real solutions,” Zelensky told the forum.
“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he added.
Fresh talks
“Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,” said Zelensky.
“But he will not change. President Trump loves who he is, and he says he loves Europe, but he will not listen to this kind of Europe,” he said.
Trump had hailed a “good” meeting with Zelensky in the Swiss ski resort, hours before his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were due in Moscow for talks with Putin.
“This war has to end,” Trump told reporters including AFP when asked what message he was sending to the Russian leader.
Zelensky said the question of territory was the one outstanding issue in the talks to find an end to the war.
“It’s all about the eastern part of our country. It’s all about the land. This is the issue which we (have) not solved yet.”
He also said the United Arab Emirates would host “trilateral” talks on the Ukraine war Friday and Saturday with Ukrainian, US and Russian negotiators.
“It will be the first trilateral meeting in the Emirates,” said Zelensky, without elaborating on the format of the talks.
“Russians have to be ready for compromises,” he added.
Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal — but Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow.
