BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 19. Australia will become the sixth largest contributor to the Climate Loss and Damage Response Fund with a new fee of $50 million, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said in the national statement at the COP29 summit today, Trend reports.
"This amount will be directed towards supporting the most affected communities, helping them recover and build more resilient infrastructure," he explained.
The minister emphasized that this decision complements Australia's previously announced contribution of $100 million to the Pacific Resilience Fund, which supports local initiatives in Pacific island nations.
Additionally, Bowen pointed out that Australia is actively investing in the transformation of its energy system, with the goal of reaching 82 percent renewable energy by 2030.
"Our energy capacity investment program will enable the implementation of projects totaling 32 GW of wind, solar, and energy storage capacity," he also said.
According to him, Australia is also strengthening its climate finance commitments for the 2020-2025 period, planning to allocate $3 billion.
"We believe that climate action is beneficial at all levels - from household budgets to the national economy," the minister stressed.
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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