BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 16. Around 40 percent of infrastructure remains vulnerable to climate impacts, Head of the Climate Department at the UN Environment Program (UNEP) Mireille Atalla said, Trend reports.
Atalla made the remark during the session titled "Enhancing resilience in the face of climate change: scaling up adaptation and local empowerment" at the COP29 Parliamentary Meeting organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Azerbaijani Parliament today.
"Concessional loans can become an additional financial burden on national treasuries if future climate risks are not taken into account during the design of infrastructure," she pointed out.
Atalla cited the devastating consequences of floods in Pakistan as an example, and according to estimates, the cost of repairing the damage to infrastructure and affected areas amounted to nearly $40 billion.
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 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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