200 cyclists have arrived at Baku, Azerbaijan, having cycled almost 4,000 miles from Paris. We need their passion to be matched in the committee rooms where delegations are hammering out compromises to rescue COP29.
The Azerbaijan COP has been described as the ‘climate finance summit’ but progress so far is not good. $1.3 trillion per year of climate finance is the figure being talked about in Baku. $1.3 trillion is the external finance each year by 2035 that will be necessary for developing countries and emerging economies (middle income countries) to achieve net zero pathways. (In case you are wondering, the figure of $1 trillion discussed previously in this blog is the external finance needed by 2030 rather than 2035.)
There are two big questions being hammered out in Baku. The first is whether this will all come from developed nations or whether a deal can be struck with China to obtain a voluntary commitment from them for grant assistance. The second, how much will be in the form of grants (rather than loans, export credits or other forms of finance). At the moment the negotiations have reached an impasse. This is not unusual at this stage of a COP, but there is a risk of spectacular and damaging failure.
It was only yesterday that governments were able to properly focus on the hard negotiations over top line issues. Some top level government ministers are flying in with just two and half days to go before COP29 will agree a final package. The ministers must not fail us. With 200 activists cycling thousands of miles to Baku, lets pray that our negotiators go the extra mile to deliver the climate finance needed to set the world on a path to net-zero.
