BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 14. As part of COP29 in Baku, Trend News Agency proudly presents COP for Hope, a special project offering an unparalleled platform to hear from world leaders and trailblazers in politics, economics, science, and ecology, all united by a shared commitment to addressing today’s pressing climate challenges.
Our next interviewee was Yalcin Rafiyev, Chief Negotiator of COP29 and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.
In an exclusive interview with Trend on the sidelines of COP29 in Baku, the COP29 Chief Negotiator noted that one of the major successes was the adoption of the agenda on the first day of the conference, following intense negotiations lasting nearly 20 hours.
"We are now on the fourth day of COP29, and one of the key achievements has already been the adoption of the conference agenda on the very first day. Typically, this is a process that requires long and difficult negotiations, but after nearly 20 hours of intense talks, we succeeded in reaching an agreement.
Equally significant was the decision on carbon market standards, aligned with Article 6, Paragraph 4 of the Paris Agreement. This has been a major hurdle for over a decade, with attempts to finalize it in the past three COPs all failing. However, we managed to adopt it on the first day of the conference, setting a positive tone and fostering a constructive atmosphere in the negotiation rooms right from the start.
Another significant accomplishment has been the united statement released by the multilateral development institutions, which include the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Monetary Fund. Azerbaijan has been actively lobbying these institutions for more climate support, and this year's efforts have paid off. These banks allocated a total of $170 billion in climate-related finance, up from $75 billion previously. The international media has already begun to cover this development intensively.
Additionally, one of Azerbaijan's primary goals at COP29 was ensuring the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund established at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh. We were pleased to sign an agreement with the government of the Philippines to transfer the fund's management to them. On top of this, Sweden announced a contribution of $19 million to the fund, further boosting our collective efforts. These, I believe, are the most significant achievements of the first few days of COP29," Rafiyev noted.
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. The event is the largest organized by Azerbaijan to date and is the first time the region has hosted the event in Azerbaijan.
Within COP29, the highest level event - the summit of world leaders on climate action - will be 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 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.
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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