Delegation frustrated over no progress at COP29 talks
Delegates leave a hall after listening to statements from various speakers at the United Nations climate change conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan on November 19, 2024.
African delegates attending the world’s largest climate conference, COP29, have expressed deep disappointment over the lack of meaningful progress in the negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In a joint briefing, delegates representing civil society, women, youth, indigenous groups, religious organisations, parliamentarians, and farmers emphasised their frustration, noting that key discussions remain stalled with only three days remaining in the talks.
They highlighted the apparent lack of ambition and commitment from developed nations, which are the primary contributors to pollution, leaving African countries and other developing nations feeling neglected.
“Discussions around the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance — a critical component in replacing the $100 billion annual pledge that expires in 2025 - remains contentious.
“Current estimates suggest annual financial needs could exceed $1.3 trillion by 2030, with proposals from the global south, such as Pakistan, calling for a minimum of $2 trillion annually, yet consensus on the structure and timeline of the NCQG remains elusive,” Ms Shampi Anna said while reading an official statement on behalf of the delegates.
She said that given the current state of negotiations, African stakeholders are sceptical of the possibilities of a transformative outcome.
“We are fully aware that leaders from developed countries have consistently remained deceitful in the negotiation process, exploring all avenues to weaken the spirit and letter of the Paris Agreement,” she said.
The official statement further observes that progress at COP29 on almost every issue has remained “formless, a disappointing venture for representatives of Africa and the global south who arrived in Baku with a clear sense of the urgency of the problems at hand and decisions required to secure urgent closure.”
“Do we support a bad deal or do we support a no deal as a good deal for a bad deal?”
This is the question the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) members are currently grappling with as they engage the global north in talks unlock the deadlock.
However, Martha Bekele from Development Initiatives in Ethiopia says Africa would rather walk away.
“We are asking for 1.3 trillion. Of course, some studies show, for instance, one calculation done by Oxford University that this could run up to 1.3, 1.7 trillion USD on average. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is threatening to walk away and to walk out of the negotiation rooms, and I am not sure if our African ministers are ready to do that because, as things stand now, we are expecting a less ambitious package,” she told Nation while predicting that Africa might just walk out of COP29 with nothing.
“Another alarming thing that we’re hearing is that multilateral development banks (MDBs) via some countries, are pushing for all flows to also be counted within this Quantum.
“If you are going to bring MDBs’ flows to the accounting of climate, then there’s going to be a game on the balance sheet and so we should not be accepting that because what is flowing from MDBs is counted as climate finance,” the expert said.
“I think that is it. Be prepared to be disappointed, which means the question for Africans, especially for the civil society fraternity, is, “Do we support a bad deal, or do we support a no deal as a good deal for a bad deal?”
Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) executive director Mithika Mwenda agrees with Ms Bekele and warns that what they see as negotiations intensify is only delay tactics from developed countries.
This is why he wants African Environment and Climate Change Ministers who are now involved in this phase of negotiations to work with and follow the advice of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) apart from urging them to desist from making ‘bilateral’ deals at the expense of the NCQG.
“All of us are unsettled on what to expect here; we came to Baku with a lot of hope and targets on the global goal of adaptation(GGA) and NCQG. We have only two days yet it’s not clear we are going to achieve anything,” the ED said.
Mr Mithika asked African ministers and negotiators to express solidarity with Pacific Island Nations that have threatened to walk out of the global climate negotiations.
“The only language developed countries understand is pressure; if we make these negotiations business as usual, nothing will happen in terms of the outcomes. We now want to urge our negotiators as a matter of urgency to seek a meeting with the group threatening to withdraw and walk out because that is when the rich countries who are sleeping will wake up,” he said.
“They buy time until the last minute when they throw the last card on the table and then we have no option but to take what they want. We need to be more political.”
For Kenyan Enviromentalist Elizabeth Wathuti, African ministers should approach this phase of negotiations with caution, wit and a lot of wisdom while keeping in mind that the African continent is the fastest and youngest growing continent.
“Our leaders must not accept a bad deal because a bad deal means that the future of our continent is at stake, the future of young people, children and generations to come. The climate financing, we need right now must be at scale, speed and must also be accessible, these are the three factors that the previous financing mechanisms have failed to achieve and driven us to debt-traps and a debt-burden that young people will be compelled to inherit,” she told delegates attending.
