Azerbaijani minister names main tasks of COP29

The main goal of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) is to attract as much of the private sector as possible to finance measures to combat climate change, Azernews reports, citing the minister of ecology and natural resources of Azerbaijan, incoming President of COP29 Mukhtar Babayev, as he said in an interview with The Guardian.

At Cop29, one of the key issues is likely to be climate finance, as poor countries struggle to find the funding they need to invest in clean energy and move away from fossil fuels.

Babayev called on the private sector to step up with funding for a green transition in the developing world, as well as publicly funded banks such as the World Bank.

“Our task is to invite as much as possible the private sector for climate finance – it’s a very good source for new initiatives, new formats, and new mechanisms for finance,” he said.

Babayev insisted the 1.5C goal must still be the central focus of the UN framework convention on climate change talks. “We need to consolidate our efforts to 1.5C,” he said.

“I’m not pessimistic on this issue. We have to move on to the target and the implementation of the program [to reduce global emissions]. If we start the action, start the implementation of the agreements made at previous Cops, we have a chance. We will do our best.”

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be held in Azerbaijan in November this year.