Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev, who will serve as COP29 President-Designate at this year’s edition of the annual climate conference, challenged the world’s financial institutions to step up funding to save the planet.
The COP29 Presidency hosted the “Dialogue on Enabling Global Action for Climate Finance” during the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C. last week.
“Global financial institutions are sending out positive signals that we intend to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. And they are stepping up to their climate responsibilities with concrete action,” said President-Designate Babayev. “To unlock climate finance at greater multiples, these institutions must go further and faster. We must ratchet up our actions to the highest possible levels of ambition. We must do today what we thought was impossible yesterday.”
He added: “We are determined to do everything in our power to bring the parties together, to ensure we fulfil our past promises and to enable action to keep 1.5ºC within reach and leave no one behind.”
In addition to Babayev’s introductory remarks and a closing discussion from COP29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev, UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell also delivered introductory remarks on climate finance as the great enabler of climate action and the value of approaching climate finance with a mindset of investment and opportunity.
Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley delivered special guest remarks on the importance of placing those who will be the most affected at the centre of the climate action conversation and the beneficial continuity the “COP Presidencies Troika” will provide.
See also: At COP28, the world calls time on fossil fuel
The COP28 Presidency from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched in February the COP Presidencies Troika, a partnership with Azerbaijan and Brazil said “to improve cooperation and continuity between current and future COP Presidencies”. The Troika provides a platform for the three Presidencies to collaborate between now and COP30 in Brazil.
See also: COP28 ends with deal on transition away from fossil fuels
Director of sustainable finance, industry and diplomacy for the Bezos Earth Fund Paul Bodnar, also delivered remarks concerning philanthropy’s critical role in unlocking progress on climate finance.
The event, which brought together more than 100 participants, also included interventions from representatives of the Presidencies of COP28 and COP30; and interventions from representatives of partners the World Bank Group, the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
There were also panels featuring representatives from the Africa Finance Corporation, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and the World Bank.
Other panels featured leaders from the OECD, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, S2G Ventures and CDPQ.
Topics of discussion included the role of international financial institutions and multilateral development banks as catalysts of climate finance. Panellists also discussed the role of corporations and institutional investors in climate finance, and the impact of philanthropy in climate finance.
Lead negotiator Rafiyev said: “We are unanimous in opinion that we must act now. The current scale of climate finance is not enough. The road to 1.5 ºC goes through Baku. This is not an easy problem to solve. We must build trust — between developed and developing nations, between Global South and Global North, between island and continental nations. We are committed to ensuring that COP29 will be an inclusive environment for everyone to feel that their voices are heard.”
Follow The Edge Singapore’s coverage of last year’s COP28 here.
Photos: COP29 Presidency, COP28 Presidency
