The Nepal Weekly 
November 19, 2024
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Tuesday 12 November for countries to step up contributions to a financial mechanism to assist developing countries affected by climate change. Earlier, he had warned developed countries to be serious about the impact of climate change.
Mr. Guterres made the appeal in remarks to a high-level dialogue on loss and damage funding during the COP29 conference.
“In an era of climate extremes, loss and damage finance is a must,” he said. “I urge governments to deliver. In the name of justice.” The world is getting hotter and more dangerous, which is “not a matter for debate”, and “climate disasters are piling up – harming those who’ve done the least, the most,” he said.
“Meanwhile, those that contribute more to the destruction – particularly the fossil fuel industry – continue to reap massive profits and subsidies,” he added.
Mr. Guterres described the creation of the Loss and damage as “a victory for developing countries, for multilateralism, and for justice,” but stressed that its initial capitalisation of $700 million “doesn’t come close to righting the wrong inflicted on the vulnerable.”
Kicking off the leaders’ speeches segment of the COP29 climate summit on Tuesday, Azerbaijan’s president IlhamAliyev lashed out fiercely at his critics, doubled down on fossil fuels and failed to announce an expected new national climate plan (NDC).
Aliyev promoted his country’s solar projects and green energy zones, some of which Climate Home visited in May. They are concentrated in Nagarno-Karabakh, a disputed region from which Armenians were driven out by Azerbaijani forces during the most recent phase of the long conflict.
Aliyev then said he would “like to say a few words about another segment of our energy security, which is oil and gas – I understand that this topic is not very popular at a climate change conference but, without that, my comments would not be complete”.
He denied that Azerbaijan is a “petrostate” – as it has been labelled in press coverage – because it accounts for less than 1% of global oil and gas production. Aliyev said American “fake news media” should look at their own country, the world’s biggest oil and gas producer.
While the US does produce far more oil and gas than Azerbaijan, it is a much bigger economy so it is a lot less reliant on that oil and gas. Azerbaijan gets two-thirds of its revenue from oil and gas, the ninth highest figure in the world.
Aliyev said the foreign media had attacked him for saying fossil fuels were a “gift of the god”. He added: “I want to repeat it today here at this audience – it’s a gift of the god”.
He said countries cannot be blamed for bringing their natural resources to international markets, adding “we must be realistic”. He then talked about how the European Union had signed a deal to get more gas imports from his country after Russia invaded Ukraine, through to 2027.
He finished off with what he called a “message” to those who had called for a boycott of COP29, including NGOs. “I have bad news for them, we have 72,000 registered participants from 196 countries… so the world gathered in Baku and we say to the world ‘welcome’.”
The UN climate chief has called on world leaders to skip any posturing at COP29 and demand strong outcomes, especially on finance.
Speaking at the opening of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit on Tuesday, Stiellwarned that unless countries step up climate action, worsening climate impacts will put “inflation on steroids”.
Stiell – who urged the world to avoid a repeat of the COVID19 pandemic “when supply chains were smashed” – emphasised the need for climate finance “as global inflation insurance”.
Climate action has moved beyond saving lives, Stiell said, adding that the climate crisis “is fast becoming an economy-killer” with its impacts “carving up to 5% off GDP in many countries”.
He pointed out that climate disasters are driving up costs for households and businesses, fuelling “a cost-of-living crisis”.
This sentiment is not far-fetched. In last week’s US election, many voters pointed to how inflation has made household essentials expensive in recent years as a reason for wanting a change of government.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) introduced in 2022 by the Biden administration aimed to curb price rises, create more jobs, boost spending on domestic energy production and promote clean energy, among other things.
Consumer prices spiked that year due to a range of factors, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and extreme weather that hit the US – from hurricanes to wildfires – damaging infrastructure and disrupting businesses. US inflation has since fallen back, but ordinary people are still feeling the pain.
Stiell said “rampant climate costs should be public enemy number one”, adding that bolder climate action “can drive economic opportunity and abundance everywhere”.
“Billions of people simply cannot afford for their governments to leave COP29 without a global climate finance goal,” he added.
Climate finance are not ‘investment goals”, say India
The G-77/China bloc reiterated the call for $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance, with an emphasis on grants and concessional funding to avoid burdening vulnerable economies already grappling with the impacts of climate change. “Loans make up nearly 70% of climate finance provided so far. This is unacceptable and places undue pressure on developing economies,” an Indian negotiator had asserted, urging developed nations to move away from debt-inducing mechanisms.
