Azerbaijan bridge for climate finance: Cop 29 president

Azerbaijan is looking to position itself as the climate finance "bridge" between the global south and global north, the country's ecology minister and UN Cop 29 climate summit president-designate Mukhtar Babayev said Saturday.

"We need to continue the process of previous Cops," Babayev said during a side event at the Munich Security Conference on 17 February. "I think there is a very good chance to transform into action already decided issues of Cop 27, of Cop 28. And I think the consensus in Dubai last year gave us a good framework, a good chance to move all the agenda forward."

Azerbaijan is hosting Cop 29 in Baku in November.

Azerbaijan's focus for this year's Cop 29 will be on "practical and tangible roadmaps" to meet UN Cop 28 climate summit targets and to set a new global finance goal for developing countries, Babayev said.

He also noted that the Cop 29 presidency would like to "provide maximum inclusivity to the process and to invite as much stakeholders as possible."

"It is very important to invite the NGOs society [philanthropic organizations]. We talked regarding getting the NGOs involved… there is a very good chance to move them in within this year and I think [Cop 29] will be a good chance to prepare also good outcomes for the 2025 [Cop 30]."

Philanthropies globally are directing less than 2pc of their support to climate change efforts, according to the UN climate body the UNFCCC. "Business as usual is no longer an option," the UNFCCC says.

By Bachar Halabi