BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 12. Low-income countries require access to climate finance, Director of Climate and Energy Policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists Rachel Cleetus said at a press conference within the framework of COP29, Trend reports.
"One of the pivotal issues at COP29 is climate finance, which is urgently required by low-income countries to facilitate a swift and equitable transition to clean energy, adapt to the impacts of climate change, and address loss and damage effectively," Cleetus noted.
She stressed the critical need to achieve consensus on the New Collective Quantified Goal for Climate Finance (NCQG), which is projected to reach as high as $1 trillion.
"It is essential for high-emitting countries, such as the United States, to take a leadership role in addressing this issue. At the same time, the contributions of other nations, regardless of their emissions levels, should also be actively encouraged and embraced," she added.
Cleetus also noted with concern the alarming acceleration of the planet's average temperature rise.
"If world leaders fail to take immediate action, we risk a temperature increase of 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This would lead to irreversible consequences for our planet's climate. We cannot afford to delay—every moment counts," she said.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) has started in Baku. The decision was made at the plenary session of COP28 held in Dubai on December 11 last year.
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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