Baku, Nov. 11, (dpa/GNA) – The United Nations Climate Change Conference began in Azerbaijan on Monday with a warning that global negotiators gathered in Baku must make significant steps to strengthen action on climate change.
“We cannot leave Baku without a substantial outcome,” UN climate chief Simon Stiell said as he opened the meeting, known as COP29.
The focus of the two-week conference is on new financial commitments to help poorer countries tackle climate change.
Developing countries and environmental organizations are expecting wealthy industrialized countries to mobilize at least $1 trillion annually – 10 times more than the current pledge of $100 billion per year.
“Let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity,” said Stiell. “An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every nation, including the largest and wealthiest.”
Stiell acknowledged that the negotiations can sometimes feel far removed from the victims of the climate crisis, but he insisted that the UN-led process is working.
“Without it, humanity would be headed towards five degrees of global warming,” he said.
This year, the planet has warmed by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial average. However, some argue that the overall long-term target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees is still in play.
Azerbaijan’s Ecology Minister Mukhtar Babayev was elected conference president by the plenary.
The appointment caused some consternation as Babayev previously worked for Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company, SOCAR, for more than 20 years.
He promised the plenary to strive for ambitious resolutions, and warned on Monday that current climate policy would lead humanity to disaster.
GNA