COP29 opens in Azerbaijan as world seeks new funding goal

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP29, kicked off in Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku on Monday.

This year's climate conference is aimed at seeking a new climate change funding goal to replace the existing collective target of mobilizing and providing $100 billion annually by developed countries in support of developing countries.

The conference will also focus on such topics as the global carbon trading market as well as the global energy transition from fossil fuels.

"COP29 is a moment of truth for the Paris Agreement, the unmissable moment to chart a new path forward for everyone," said Mukhtar Babayev, the COP29 president-designate and Azerbaijan's minister for ecology and natural resources. "It will test our commitment to the multilateral climate system. We must now demonstrate that we are prepared to meet the goals we have set ourselves."

"Here in Baku, we must agree a new global climate finance goal. If at least two thirds of the world's nations cannot afford to cut emissions quickly, then every nation pays a brutal price," said Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UNFCCC.

"Let's dispense with the idea that climate finance is charity. An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every nation, including the largest and wealthiest," Stiell added.

Last year's COP28 focused on finance, the essential success factor for climate progress, and landed a win with the launch of the long-awaited fund for loss and damage. Overall, COP28 mobilized $85 billion in commitments. And to date, more than $700 million has been pledged to the loss and damage fund.

COP28 delivered the UAE Consensus, which has ushered in a new era for climate action. The UAE Consensus contains commitments to triple renewable energy capacity, double energy efficiency, and end deforestation, all by the end of the decade.

China has been actively pushing for an all-around green transformation, said Zhao Yingmin, Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment and head of the Chinese delegation to COP29, said Monday at a China Pavilion meeting on the sidelines of COP29.

China is actively and steadily advancing its carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. It has built the world's largest clean energy system and the carbon emissions trading market covering the largest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, according to Zhao.

China led the world in employment related to renewable energy last year, and the sector is expected to continue generating jobs, as record-breaking production, installation and export of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles stand in contrast to bleak job prospects in other sectors.

An estimated 7.4 million people in the Chinese mainland worked in renewable-energy jobs in 2023, representing 46 percent of the global total and a 32 percent increase over 2022, when China accounted for 41 percent of the global total, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the International Labour Organization reported in October 2024.

A session on "Sustainable Development of Global South and China-Africa Cooperation" of the seventh Hongqiao International Economic Forum was held in Shanghai on November 5, 2024.

Speakers from political and academic circles of China and abroad discussed the two topics, "Evolution of Economic Development Models for the Global South to Reach Sustainable Development" and "Experiences and Emerging Trends in China-Africa Cooperation for Promoting Sustainable Development in Africa."

Experts believe that for a long time, China-Africa cooperation has been significantly effective, becoming a model for South-South cooperation. In the future, in emerging fields such as digital economy and green transformation, China will continue to play an important guiding role.

(With input from Xinhua and Reuters)

(Cover: The entrance to the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 10, 2024. /CFP)