Brazil, Azerbaijan and the Emirates create alliance for COPs – 02/13/2024 – Environment

The United Arab Emirates, presidents of COP28, held in 2023, and their successors, Azerbaijan and Brazil, announced this Tuesday (13) the beginning of an unprecedented alliance to “improve cooperation and continuity” of negotiations on UN climate summit.

The 198 signatory countries of the final COP28 agreement, signed in December in Dubai, supported the three presidencies to work together on a “roadmap” to contain global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the target more ambitious policy defined by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

This “troika of COP presidencies,” as it has been called, must “ensure the collaboration and continuity necessary to keep the 1.5°C North Star on the horizon from Baku to Bethlehem and beyond,” said the US COP president. UAE, Sultan al-Jaber, in a statement.

The capital of Azerbaijan will host COP29 in November this year, while the capital of the state of Pará, in the Amazon, will host COP30 in 2025.

Current commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions put the world on track to increase by between 2.5°C and 2.9°C this century, according to UN calculations.

The 1.5°C limit could be reached between 2030 and 2035, according to the latest estimates from the UN climate expert panel (IPCC).

Scientists warn that every additional tenth of a degree intensifies and multiplies extreme weather events.

The alliance of countries, according to the COP28 final agreement, should “significantly strengthen international cooperation and the enabling international environment to drive ambition in the next cycle of nationally determined contributions.”

When citing these contributions, the signatories refer to each country’s emission reduction plans (NDCs), which must be updated more rigorously before COP30, in Belém.

Financing of developing countries

The COP28 agreement included, for the first time, the phase-out of fossil fuels, but made no progress in unlocking financing for developing countries, a major stumbling block in the negotiations.

The issue is presented as a central theme of COP29, in Baku, which should establish a new objective in climate financial aid provided by developed countries.

Rich nations are already behind on their initial pledge to finance the fight against climate change with around $100 billion annually. The commitment was made in 2009, and the fundraising deadline was 2020.

The amount, however, is insufficient: from now until 2030, developing countries, excluding China, will need about US$2.4 trillion annually, according to estimates by UN experts.

To meet the 1.5°C limit, “it will be essential to establish a new financing target that reflects the magnitude and urgency of the climate challenge,” said COP29 Azerbaijan President Mukhtar Babayev.

Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of this oil-producing country, Babayev presented himself as a “builder of bridges between the developed world and the developing world”.