BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 18. The NCQG (new collective quantitative goal) must be urged to consider the needs of children and focus on social services, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Partnerships Kitty van der Heijden said during the COP29 Ministerial Roundtable on Greening Education and Enhancing Climate Literacy Metric - 2nd Annual Meeting of the Greening Education Partnership today, Trend reports.
"Obviously, climate issues need to be integrated into school curricula not because education ministers or organizations like UNICEF want it, but because all countries have signed the Paris Agreement. Article 12 of this agreement is quite clear.
Along with secondary education, we need to focus on the practical skills that young people need to participate in solving climate problems. Young people do not want to sit idly by; they want to work and be part of the green economy, which is inevitably becoming a reality. Climate investments should be directed there.
Currently, only 2.4 percent of climate investments in one way or another take into account the interests of children. All countries, including education ministers, need to insist that the NCQG (new collective quantitative goal) takes into account the needs of children and focuses on the social services they depend on. Otherwise, we'll only be talking but not taking concrete actions," she emphasized.
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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