A last-minute deal secured at United Nations climate conference Cop29 in Baku has led to anger among developing countries and environmental activists over how the agreement was pushed through by the host country Azerbaijan which led negotiations at the summit.
The talks almost collapsed twice throughout Saturday evening and into the early hours of Sunday morning as vulnerable nations at one point walked out of negotiations and later, led by India, objected stridently.
Almost 200 countries agreed to set a new “climate finance goal” with wealthy countries including the European Union committing $300 billion a year for climate vulnerable countries.
But many countries from the Global South said afterwards saying it was “utterly inadequate” to avoid climate catastrophe and failed to give the world a better chance to contain global temperature to within 1.5 degrees.
The outcome was condemned by aid agencies across the world. Speaking from Baku on Sunday, Friends of the Earth Ireland climate policy campaigner Seán McLoughlin said: “Let’s be clear on what has happened here in Baku: rich, developed countries have bullied the developing world into accepting a woefully inadequate deal.”
He added: “It is a deal that is entirely divorced from the reality of the global climate crisis. The hypocrisy of the Global North has now been laid bare by their abject failure to step up and pay their climate debt, whilst continuing to allow trillions in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.”
Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan, who was a lead negotiator at Cop29 for the UN, said the deal was a foundation that could be built on in an uncertain world. “This agreement is far from perfect and it does not go nearly far enough, particularly on mitigation, gender and human rights – but it keeps the core principles of the Paris Agreement alive and it gives us a basis to work from as we move forward to make Cop30 in Brazil transformational.”
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said developing countries should regard the outcome as the “start of a new era in climate finance”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said the new goal was an “insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country” but added that it was “no time for victory laps”.
As the gavel came down, India’s lead negotiator Neelesh Sah leapt to his feet to ask to take the floor, and when he was ignored made a furious timeout gesture above his head and led his team on to the stage in protest.
Speaking from the floor, Indian delegation member Chandni Raina said the country was “extremely disappointed” by the abrupt passage of the agreement, adding: “This was stage-managed.”
“It is a paltry sum,” she said. “I am sorry to say that we cannot accept it. We seek a much higher ambition from developed countries.” The agreement was “nothing more than an optical illusion,” she added.
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