The G20 leaders said they “commit to successful negotiations in Baku” but promised little else to unblock fraught cliamte talks
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G20 disappoints COP29 on finance
At a press conference in Baku yesterday, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev sent a cry for help unlocking finance talks to the G20 leaders summit in Rio de Janeiro.
“The world is waiting to hear from them”, he said, adding “we want them to provide clear mandates to deliver at COP29 – this is their chance to show leadership”.
While Baku slept, G20 leaders in Rio put out a joint statement on everything from hunger to artificial intelligence.
But the section on the COP29 finance goal was brief. “We look forward to a successful New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) outcome in Baku”, it said.
“We pledge our support to the COP29 Presidency and commit to successful negotiations in Baku”, it added.
Veteran climate campaigner Harjeet Singh accused G20 leaders of a “stark failure”. He said: “Their rehashed rhetoric offers no solace for the fraught COP29 negotiations, where we continue to see a deadlock on climate finance”.
“Without decisive progress on finance at COP29, we are steering towards a catastrophic temperature scenario, where the most vulnerable will bear the gravest consequences,” he added.
Reuters reported yesterday that, according to two diplomats, the communique was going to mention developing nations’ voluntary contributions to climate finance, one of the two key dividing issues of the COP29 finance talks. But that did not make it into the final text.
