BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 13. Problems of urbanization and climate change in cities have been discussed at an event themed “From Baku to Belem and beyond: COP Presidencies bringing cities, urbanization, and multilevel climate action to the heart of the climate agenda,” jointly organized by Azerbaijan, host of COP29, and the UN Program for the Promotion of Sustainable Human Settlements Development, Trend reports.
The event gathered Chairman of the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of Azerbaijan Anar Guliyev, Head of the Executive Authority of Baku Eldar Azizov, Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Amna Al-Dahak, President of the European Committee of the Regions Vasco Alves Cordeiro, Vice President of the EBRD Mark Bowman, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur and Special Advisor to COP29 Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Tatiana Molchan, and others.
The event featured a presentation of the "Baku Coalition for Sustainable Development on Urban, Multi-Sectoral, and Multi-Level Climate Action," which highlighted achievements in climate action and discussed the development of a roadmap for urban and multi-level climate action in line with COP30. It also explored ways to support the expansion of climate action in cities and regions.
Anar Guliyev spoke about ongoing work in Azerbaijan related to urban planning, infrastructure projects, and ways to expand climate action in cities and address urbanization issues.
Highlighting international experience, speakers pointed out that industrial enterprises are typically located in cities, leading to higher carbon dioxide emissions in urban areas compared to regions.
The speakers said that cities are considered the main "culprits" of climate change, emphasizing the importance of fulfilling commitments under the Paris Agreement to mitigate it.
The event continued as a dialogue.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) started in Baku on November 11. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system.
The main expectation from COP29 is to agree on a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The COP29 chairmanship 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.
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