(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 18. The US,
Azerbaijan and China will hold a triple-hosted event at COP29, Sue
Biniaz, the US State Department's Principal Deputy Special Envoy
for Climate, said in an exclusive interview with Trend , as she visited
Baku.
"It's been a real pleasure to have another opportunity to talk
to the Azerbaijani team about COP29. We've discussed several
issues, as we normally do when we're able to get together. We,
first of all, talk about several issues that are under negotiation
at COP29. One of them relates to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Not to get too technical, but that article deals with market
mechanisms and emissions trading between parties. It's almost done,
but has a few outstanding issues, and we have a common interest
with the host country in getting those issues done at this COP. We
also talk about mitigation. That was a very important outcome of
last year's COP," she said.
Biniaz pointed out that the first Global Stocktake under the
Paris Agreement led to something, a rather lengthy decision, a part
of which was devoted to mitigation and reduction of emissions and
it almost provides a roadmap to keeping the global temperature rise
to below 1.5 degrees.
"We want to make sure that it stays alive and that part of the
COP29 outcome refers to it, recalls it, and implements it. The
biggest issue that's under negotiation this year is on the new
collective quantified goal, which many people call NCQG for short.
The developed countries in 2009 committed to a goal of mobilizing
$100 billion for the benefit of developing countries every year
starting in 2020. When the Paris Agreement was concluded, the
question was do they continue this goal? Who contributes? How much?
In 2015 they decided to extend the goal through 2025 and then
revisit it and update it this year, in 2024, so basically at COP29.
The issues this year include what kind of goal are we talking
about, how much money, who contributes, etc. That's the big marquee
item that is up for negotiation at COP29," said the deputy special
envoy.
Biniaz went on to add that the other thing that the US has been
talking to the Azerbaijani team about are things that are not
actually part of the COP, technically speaking, but the COP can add
momentum to these issues.
"One of them is that the first transparency reports under the
Paris Agreement are due on December 31, just a few weeks after the
COP. So we have a common interest in promoting timely submission by
parties to the Paris Agreement of these reports. These are called
Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs). Also, the next round of Paris
Emission Targets, or Nationally Determined Contributions, are due
in a couple months after the COP, February 10 to be exact. So we
have also a common interest with Azerbaijan in promoting timely
submission of NDCs that are ambitious and help to keep this 1.5
degree limit within reach," she said.
US priorities at COP29
Biniaz highlighted that one area of focus for the United States
and other parties at COP29 is going to be the negotiation
issues.
"Those are kind of the mandatory things that need to be decided
at COP29. Then there's a whole set of other things that we're
focused on that, broadly speaking, are called the action agenda.
Those are the things that are not, strictly speaking, negotiated,
and definitely not negotiated among 200 countries. They may be
negotiated among smaller groups of countries, or they might just be
events or announcements by one or two or several countries. As part
of the action agenda, Azerbaijan has its own priorities, and we're
involved in some of those, and those will be priorities for us.
We'll also have some US priorities at the COP. Some of those relate
to mitigation, some of them adaptation, some of them finance. In
fact, we are doing an event with China and Azerbaijan, kind of
triple-hosted, focusing on the gases other than carbon dioxide.
This is going to be one of the high-level events during the first
two days, during the Leaders' Summit, and we're looking forward to
that. Another thing we're focusing on is the US Center. Every year
at the COP, we have our own show place, where we put on many
events. This year, I think it will be about 50 events that the US
puts on. It's a chance to showcase what the United States is doing
at home, what our subnational governments, cities, states are doing
and what we're doing internationally with other countries," she
explained.
Concrete outcomes expected from COP29
She pointed out that the major issue under negotiation is this
new collective quantified goal, the NCQG, and that's the successor
to the existing $100 billion goal.
"So there we see a concrete outcome in the form of a decision of
the parties. We're focused on maybe four aspects at least. One is
that we think this goal needs to have more than one layer. We think
it has to have one component that focuses on how much money in the
world needs to go into the climate issue, both to keep 1.5 degrees
alive and also to promote global resilience and adaptation to
climate impacts, and we've been referring to that as a global
investment goal. That includes all countries. It includes
international finance, domestic finance, etc. It's a large number.
The second layer we refer to as the support goal, and that's more
like the $100 billion. It's more like what certain contributors end
up contributing towards developing countries in terms of public
finance, but also the private finance. The third point is that that
support goal, the inner layer, needs to be a realistically
achievable number. It needs to kind of stretch the parties to a
little beyond their comfort zone, but it can't be some kind of
number that is just unachievable and will interfere with the
credibility of the Paris Agreement process. The fourth point is
that that support goal, we think, needs new contributors. We think
we need more countries to join the group of contributors, those
that are capable of being contributors," the deputy special envoy
added.
Carbon pricing mechanisms
Further, Biniaz noted that high-integrity carbon markets
represent a potentially promising channel to unlock significant
additional capital and greenhouse gas mitigation.
"I say potentially promising because they have to be done right.
If they're done right, carbon markets can support decarbonization,
help limit global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees, and
leverage private sector action. So it's important to the United
States that we shape responsible design, implementation, and use of
market-based measures. And we're pursuing that goal in a number of
different ways. Internationally, we're deeply involved in ensuring
the integrity of the CORSIA mechanism. That's something that was
designed within the International Civil Aviation Organization as an
offset mechanism for emissions from the international aviation
sector. We're also working with global certification mechanisms
under the World Bank and high-quality carbon market initiatives
like the LEAF coalition, which has to do with avoiding
deforestation, and the Energy Transition Accelerator, which helps
developing countries move towards clean energy. This COP is going
to be focused very much on completing the guidelines under Article
6, and we're pushing for high-integrity outcomes with respect to
the Article 6 guidelines," she said.
US-Azerbaijan cooperation within COP29
Biniaz highlighted that the US is working with Azerbaijan in
many different ways to promote the success of COP29.
"From the very beginning, after Azerbaijan was named as the
COP29 president, we've been discussing the issues that are under
negotiation, ones that I've already mentioned, including ways to
promote the successful submission of these biennial transparency
reports, NDCs in February, etc. The second thing is that we've been
co-leading, or we will be co-leading certain initiatives with the
government of Azerbaijan. We co-hosted a workshop recently for the
benefit of African countries on getting their biennial transparency
reports ready to go for the deadline at the end of this year. As I
mentioned, with China, US and Azerbaijan, we're putting together
this high-level event on non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases. It's
the second time we will be doing that kind of event. We did one at
COP28 when the UAE was the president, and this time we're going to
do it with Azerbaijan," she said.
Biniaz went on to add that the third thing is that the US is
supporting many of the Azerbaijani initiatives and events for this
COP.
"We'll be attending many of them next week in New York at
Climate Week, and we're supporting many of the declarations that
the COP presidency has put forward for adoption at COP29. We're
very impressed with the Azerbaijani team. I think they've done a
great job. They were given this COP29 assignment kind of abruptly,
pretty late by the standards of the COP, and they really jumped in
and have really done a great job learning the issues and exercising
leadership," she said.
The deputy special envoy pointed out that the push toward green
energy will definitely feature at COP29, so it's great to see
Azerbaijan taking a leadership role on this issue.
"The US and Azerbaijan have a long history of cooperation on
energy security, and we support, of course, the transition into
green energy. US companies, whether they're big or small, are
interested in entering the green energy market and cooperating with
Azerbaijan on new technologies, and we definitely encourage these
partnerships. Azerbaijan has shown with the Southern Gas Corridor
that it's a reliable supplier of gas to Europe, and this lends a
lot of credibility to Azerbaijan's plans to expand the model into
the renewable energy sector and become a green energy supplier to
Europe," she said.
Further, Biniaz noted that the US looks forward to learning more
about the Green Energy Corridor project, including potential
opportunities for the US government and the US private sector to
get engaged.
"More broadly, we're interested in continuing to learn about the
potential of offshore wind to help decarbonize the Azerbaijani
power system, to advance the industrial transition, and to spur
potential export opportunities. We also want to underline that
there's strong potential in Azerbaijan for other renewable energy
deployment, given solar and wind resources. US companies of all
sizes and shapes are interested in entering the green energy market
and cooperating on new technologies. Our excellent cooperation on
COP29, is a proof of concept that when we work together on shared
interests, we can have a successful outcome that benefits both our
countries and beyond. And there are many areas beyond climate where
we have a common interest, including clean energy innovation,
regional peace and security, and we would like to continue to
cooperate on these shared interests," she concluded.
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