(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 17. At a virtual
event hosted by the Brookings Institution ahead of the COP29
Climate conference in Baku, Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN
Climate Change, emphasized the urgent need for all governments to
agree on a new goal for international climate finance, Trend reports.
This, he said, must address the critical needs of developing
countries and scale up funding to match the ever-growing climate
challenges.
"COP29 must be the stand-and-deliver COP, recognizing that
climate finance is core business to save the global economy and
billions of lives from rampaging climate impacts," Stiell stated.
He warned that while significant steps have been made, the current
levels of climate financing remain far below what is needed to
safeguard the world from devastating environmental crises.
The executive secretary emphasized that public finance must be
at the heart of any new climate funding goals, with much of it in
the form of grants or concessional funding to ensure accessibility
for those most vulnerable. He noted that while it isn't his role to
dictate the specifics of this new financial goal, the overarching
aim is clear: to make climate cash count by leveraging private
finance and steering global financial markets toward green
investments.
"The vital business of who pays and how much can be agreed in
Baku," he noted, adding that COP29 should not be seen as an
opportunity to renegotiate the Paris Agreement but rather as a
platform to make concrete financial commitments. Mechanisms to
track and ensure the delivery of promised funds are essential to
maintaining global trust in the climate process.
Stiell also highlighted the need to rapidly increase funding for
climate adaptation and to activate international carbon markets to
benefit all countries. Additionally, he stressed the importance of
supporting a new generation of national climate plans that align
with global goals, transforming promises made at previous climate
summits into real-world actions.
In the wake of COP28's UAE Consensus, which called for a
tripling of renewable energy, doubling energy efficiency, and
transitioning away from fossil fuels, Stiell made it clear that
COP29 must convert these pledges into tangible results.
"We must get the Loss and Damage Fund working fully, dispersing
money to those who need it most," he said, referencing the critical
role of this fund in assisting nations severely impacted by climate
change.
Finally, Stiell warned against the growing divide between
nations and the rising temptation to adopt an insular mindset in
the face of global challenges. "If we go down this path, it will
soon be game over in the world's climate fight," he concluded.
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