BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 20. The transition to eco-friendly fuels in freight transport, ports, and logistics terminals stands crucial for reducing emissions, said Khurshid Rustamov, the UN representative in Azerbaijan, at a panel discussion on "Pathways to Sustainable Connectivity: Efforts of CICA & its Member States, and Regional Organizations in Asia for Secure, Effective and Climate-Resilient Transportation Corridors” at COP29, Trend reports.
Rustamov emphasized the need for digitalization tools, such as the ETR, ECMR, and common semantic standards for digitizing multimodal data and documents, to improve the efficiency of transport corridors and reduce emissions.
"The transition to clean fuels in freight transport, ports, and logistics terminals will be a critical step toward achieving carbon neutrality in this sector. This must be implemented in line with technological advancements.
Historically, petroleum products accounted for over 99 percent of the total energy consumption in international shipping and freight transport. In 2022, biofuels represented less than 0.5 percent of global energy use in international shipping. To meet carbon neutrality goals, there is a need to significantly increase the use of low- and zero-carbon alternative fuels, including biofuels, methanol, hydrogen, ammonia, and electricity," he said.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which will run until November 22, opened at the Baku Olympic Stadium on November 11. It is the largest event organized by Azerbaijan to date, and the first time in the region that it is being held in Azerbaijan.
Within COP29, the highest-level event - the summit of world leaders on climate action - was held on November 12–13.
The main expectation from COP29 is to agree on a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The COP29 Presidency has launched 14 initiatives that include linkages between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals, including green energy corridors, green energy storage, harmony for climate resilience, clean hydrogen, methane reduction in organic waste, action on green digital technologies, and other topics.
In addition to being a top priority that creates the conditions for action, creating climate finance will also help fulfill the 1.5°C pledge by bringing everyone together.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for “Conference of Parties” and is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A total of 198 countries are parties to the Convention. Unless otherwise decided by the parties, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
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