Baku Pre-COP Meeting Sets the Stage for Ambitious Climate Action

The pre-COP (Conference of Parties) event week concluded in Azerbaijan's Baku today, which aimed at resolving conflicts among countries relating to global warming and delivering early progress on key outstanding issues, ahead of UN climate change conference COP29 starting from November 11.

The meetings were attended by ministers, heads of delegations, negotiators and constituencies from around the world.

During his speech to Pre-COP attendees, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of taking immediate action on climate change. “As we are entering into the final stage of preparations to the COP29, I call on you to engage constructively and in good faith for the sake of humanity.” He also stated that while states have common but differentiated responsibilities, they should put aside disagreements, stop blaming each other and find common ground. We cannot afford to waste time on defining who is guilty for global warming, or who caused more environmental harm, he added.

COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev commented on the progress of negotiations, stating that options have been narrowed down and potential landing zone scenarios are becoming clearer. 

Last week in Baku, we ensured that ministers understood the significant matters in this crucial concluding stage of negotiations, said Babayev. He also stated that they now have to go back to their capital cities to obtain the necessary approvals for the progress they are required to achieve. There is no reason for individuals to attend COP29 without explicit political backing to advance, as we are promptly striving to transform this proposal into an agreement, added Babayev.

Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev mentioned the need for a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance to be discussed in Baku, stating that funding requirements were in the trillions of dollars, with varying perspectives on achieving this ambition. 

He additionally stated that the public sector's feasible objective in terms of direct provision and mobilisation appears to be in the range of "hundreds of billions." The new objective must meet the needs and priorities of developing nations, such as small island developing states and the least developed countries, said Yalchin Rafiyev. The importance of qualitative aspects like transparency and accessibility was also emphasised by the COP29 presidency, highlighting the necessity of consensus on all elements of the NCQG at COP29.

The week provided and represented a crucial chance to assist in preparing a draft negotiating text for the upcoming climate finance goal, set to be released soon before COP29.

The COP29 Presidency highlighted the significance of a "balanced package" to achieve its goal of facilitating action at COP29. This involves fulfilling all duties and implementing specific actions after the results of the COP28 Global Stocktake.