On the fifth day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), Friday 15 November, negotiators were still struggling to agree on a viable draft text for climate finance, ahead of the arrival of ministers next week.
“Work is progressing too slowly”, said Ilatchine Rafiev, Azerbaijan’s chief climate negotiator, at a press conference about the negotiations on raising the target of $100 billion in funding from developed countries for climate action in developing countries.
“We call on everyone to step up their commitment and remain focused on the imperative of making rapid progress”, he added.
This COP has already been marked by a number of controversies (see EUROPE 13524/3) and criticisms of the Azerbaijani Presidency, notably for its proximity to the hydrocarbon lobbies.
The president of the conference, Mukhtar Babayev, is a former executive of SOCAR (the national oil and gas company). The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, for his part, has repeatedly declared that the country’s gas reserves are “a gift from God” and, during his opening speech, accused the Western media of spreading disinformation against his country and himself.
Energy Day. The day of 15 November was devoted to the energy sector. In this context, the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, took part in a number of events, such as the ‘Global Methane Pledge’ ministerial meeting, organised jointly by the EU and the United States, and the ‘OGMP 2.0 CEO Forum’ on industry efforts to improve the monitoring, reporting and verification of methane emissions.
On 13 November, the European Commission adopted a roadmap for a methane emissions reduction partnership to strengthen cooperation between fossil fuel importing and exporting countries (see EUROPE 13523/5).
Support for Ukraine. Ms Simson also reaffirmed the EU’s support for Ukraine in tackling the attacks on its energy system, in a speech given at an event entitled ‘Ukraine’s recovery towards a green, sustainable and resilient energy system’.
She explained that in addition to donations from the EU and the members of the ‘Clean Energy Partnership’ (see EUROPE 13486/1) to help with Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts, private investment is “the key” to Ukraine’s transition to a green economy.
“International financial institutions and technical partners have an essential role to play in helping Ukraine to attract private investment”, she argued. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)