Climate funding divisions laid bare as COP29 deadline looms (updated)

Fossil

21/11/2024 04:47

* 
      New draft text on climate finance goal whittled down to 10
pgs
    

        * 
      Aims to decide annual finance flow to poorer countries
    

        * 
      Text show polarised positions, no landing zone in sight
    

        * 
      Talks meant to end Friday, overtime expected again
    

  
 (Adds fossil fuel language in text, details; paragraphs 15-25)
    By Simon Jessop, Gloria Dickie and Kate Abnett
       BAKU, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Division and discontent spilled
into the open on Thursday at a U.N. climate summit in Baku, as a
proposal for a new global finance deal offered two vastly
different options that left no one happy as the closing deadline
neared.
    The key goal of COP29 is to agree how much money richer
developed countries should provide poorer developing ones to
help them fight climate change, a critical plank in efforts to
limit the damage caused by rising global temperatures.
    But getting a deal on the money has proved slow going at the
talks in Azerbaijan's capital, and the latest draft of the
negotiating text arrived several hours behind schedule as
delegates entered, in theory, the closing 48 hours.
    With the summit set to wrap up on Friday, the new document
showed much remains undecided on key questions, such as what
counts towards the annual figure, who pays and how much. 
    "It is clearly unacceptable as it stands now," said European
Union climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.
    Panama's lead negotiator, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, told
Reuters, "All of this is turning into a tragic spectacle, a
clown show, because when we get to the last minute, we always
get a text that is just so weak."
    Developing countries need at least $1 trillion a year by the
end of the decade to cope with climate change, economists told
the talks last week.
    Although the 10-page document was slimmed to less than half
the size of the previous version by stripping out some options,
it summed up the opposing positions of blocs of developed and
developing nations established before the event.
    One focused on ensuring the funds were grants or
grant-equivalent in form, and that contributions from developing
countries to each other - a nod to large potential donors such
as China - were not formally part of the target.
    The other, repeating the position of richer countries, aimed
to broaden the types of finance that count toward the final
annual goal, not just grants from developed countries, and
included contributions from others.
    Both options avoided stating the total funds countries would
aim to invest each year, leaving the space marked with an 'X'.
    "We are far from the finish line," said Li Shuo, a climate
diplomacy expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute. "The new
finance text presents two extreme ends of the aisle without much
in between."
    He added, "Crucially, the text misses a number that defines
the scale of future climate finance, a prerequisite for
negotiation in good faith."
    That was perhaps not surprising as key donor countries,
including those in the EU, have said they want more clarity on
the structure and contributor base before publicly discussing
how much they could chip in.
    
    FOSSIL FUELS
    Some negotiators also said Thursday's proposals failed to
uphold a pledge made at last year's Dubai summit to transition
away from fossil fuels, hailed at the time as a landmark moment.
    Human activities - mainly, the burning of fossil fuels -
have helped raise the planet's long-term average temperature by
about 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) since
pre-industrial times, driving disastrous floods, hurricanes,
droughts and extreme heatwaves.
    Countries seek more financing to deliver on the 2015 Paris
Agreement goal of limiting the global temperature rise to well
below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F), and ideally 1.5 degrees C
(2.7 degrees F), by the end of the century.
    Climate scientists now say the world is now likely to cross
that more ambitious threshold, beyond which even more
catastrophic climate impacts could occur, in the early 2030s, if
not before.
    Alongside finance, the future of fossil fuels is at the
heart of COP29, where it has stirred disagreement from day one.
    Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev hit out at Western critics
of his country's oil and gas industry at the opening plenary,
described such resources as a gift from God. 
    The latest draft text of the Dubai pact referred to
"transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems" but did
not set out clear next steps.
    One European negotiator told Reuters that work on
mitigation, or reducing carbon emissions and curbing global
warming, was "backsliding" from Dubai.
    The climate finance deal document gave a clue to the future
of fossil fuels, with wording on phasing out "inefficient fossil
fuel subsidies ... as soon as possible".
    It also urged companies to "contribute to climate action and
align operations with the Paris Agreement", through efforts such
as investing in developing countries and supporting technology
transfer.
    "We have just two more days left. We need to really work
hard to get this COP a successful COP," Maldives Environment
Minister Thoriq Ibrahim told Reuters.

 (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
 ((william.james@thomsonreuters.com; @wjames_reuters; +44 20
7513 4401;))