The COP29 Climate Conference in Baku (Azerbaijan) has reached a new level of tension due to stalled negotiations on a new climate finance goal for developing countries.
The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC) groups walked out in protest during a meeting with the Azerbaijani COP29 presidency, reports Belga News Agency.
"We wanted to send a signal that we should not and cannot be ignored," said Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone's Environment and Climate Minister. However, he emphasised that the LDCs do not intend to leave COP29 permanently. "The process is not as inclusive as it should be," he added.
"We came to this COP for a fair agreement. We feel like we are not being listened to and not being consulted, which is why we left the meeting," explained AOSIS group president Cedric Schuster of Samoa.
Overtime
Small island states and the least developed countries, which together represent 76 developing countries, are criticising the COP29 presidency for not having been consulted on certain parts of a draft text currently on the table. This would increase climate finance to $300 billion per year by 2035, and not $250 billion as planned in a previous draft – an amount still considered insufficient by developing countries.
After another sleepless night, negotiations continued late Saturday afternoon at COP29 on the new climate finance target for developing countries. An issue involving several hundreds or even thousands of billions of dollars, which is forcing the UN climate change summit to go into overtime in Baku.
UN climate change conferences have developed the unfortunate habit of going into overtime. While COP29 is already 24 hours behind its initial schedule, COP25 in Madrid in 2019 was even about 40 hours behind its official schedule, a record.
COPs adopt their decisions by consensus of the 198 States Parties (and the European Union) to the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
