Baku: The finalisation of the agenda of COP29 in this Azerbaijani capital got delayed on the opening day Monday over disagreement on the role of finance in emission cuts.
While developing countries at the very beginning pitched for a discussion solely on climate finance, the developed nations pushed for a gamut of issues together with financing, resulting in a deadlock in the plenary till the evening.
Countries like India sought discussion on implementing the UAE dialogue – held in June – by putting finance at the centre of outcomes, but the developed nations disagreed on the exclusivity of the proposed deliberations.
The Article 6 of Paris accord signed iñ 2016 at COP21 allowed the countries to cooperate voluntarily with each other to achieve the emission reduction targets set out in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through transfer of carbon credits, which was also discussed in United Arab Emirates.
The representatives of the developing countries argued that voluntary international cooperation on climate finance was a key point of discussion in COP29, aimed to finalise the rules on how countries can use UN governed carbon markets to reduce their emissions and reach their climate targets. However, competing objectives mean that instead of helping to slow climate change, it encourages countries to get away with making inadequate emissions cuts.
The EU wanted high transparency and more rules around the types of credits that could be traded between countries, but the developing nations disagreed. The contentious point will continue to be negotiated in COP29. According to observers, things got stuck because it is incredibly difficult to reach consensus on what classifies as a good carbon removal credit.
The developed nations argued that Article 6.2 sets the rules and standards for carbon credit trades between countries through bilateral agreements. This market is already in the early stages of being operational, with countries signing deals of intent to purchase specific types of credits from one another, they said.
In his opening remarks on the COP29 Climate Conference, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Simon Stiell, however, stressed the importance of the negotiation process and said COP is the only platform for nations to tackle the escalating climate crisis and hold each other accountable.
“Without this platform, the world would be heading toward 5 degrees of global warming. We negotiate specific pieces of this ‘puzzle’ every year, but we cannot afford to continue destroying lives and livelihoods in all countries. Let’s achieve a result this time,” Stiell urged.
He highlighted that the climate crisis impacts every person globally, exacerbating issues like rising food and electricity costs, reducing economic competitiveness and increasing global instability.
