Deep disappointment about the results of COP29 in Baku
It should have been the climate summit where the promises of the Paris Agreement were finally fulfilled. But an ambitious and realistic climate financing target – the task of COP29 – failed to materialise.
‘A huge disappointment’, is how Esin Erdoğan describes the commitment in the Baku Agreement to reach 300 billion dollars per year in climate financing by 2035. As an NGO delegate, she followed the negotiations in Baku. ‘Taking inflation into account, an amount of 300 billion dollars is no improvement on the amount agreed in 2015. While the climate problems have become much more serious in the meantime. Moreover, a large part of it consists of loans. While many developing countries are already drowning in debt.’
Already in 2015, rich countries – who are largely responsible for climate change – agreed to financially support the Global South in reducing their emissions and adapting to climate change. The agreement at COP29 of a scientifically substantiated financing target of 1,300 billion per year should have been the catalyst for large-scale climate policy and climate action worldwide.
‘The future of billions of people is at stake’, says Esin Erdoğan. ‘If climate-vulnerable countries are not enabled to adapt to climate change, to repair damage and to take the step towards a sustainable future, the effects will be incalculable. And the longer we wait to finally take action, the higher the costs.’
‘It is unacceptable that vulnerable communities are not given the resources to keep the situation liveable for themselves, their children and nature.'
‘Climate adaptation is crucial, especially for poorer countries’, says Erdoğan. ‘It is unacceptable that vulnerable communities are not given the resources to keep the situation liveable for themselves, their children and nature. It is a deep disappointment that the Netherlands and the European Union have not made enough of an effort to achieve this.’
After the failure of Baku, all hope is pinned on COP30, which will be organised in Belém next year. Brazil has a greener reputation than this year's host country ‘oil is a gift from God’ Azerbaijan and is determined to make it a historic climate summit. ‘The preparations start now. Let us do everything we can to prevent a second Baku.’
