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photo-article-logo Friday, 06 December 2024

COP29: Pay up or face climate-led disaster for humanity, warns UN chief Antonio Guterres

Nearly 200 nations have gathered at the annual U.N. climate summit in Baku, focused this year on raising hundreds of billions of dollars to fund a global transition to cleaner energy sources and limit the climate damage caused by carbon emissions

Reuters Baku Published 12.11.24, 02:51 PM

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders at the COP29 summit on Tuesday to "pay up" to prevent climate-led humanitarian disasters, and said time was running out to limit a destructive rise in global temperatures.

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World leaders attending the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP29, pose for a family photo in Baku, Azerbaijan November 12, 2024. (Reuters)
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Nearly 200 nations have gathered at the annual U.N. climate summit in Baku, focused this year on raising hundreds of billions of dollars to fund a global transition to cleaner energy sources and limit the climate damage caused by carbon emissions.

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A night view shows the venue of the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Reuters)

But on the day of the summit designed to bring together world leaders and generate political momentum for the marathon negotiations, many of the leading players were not present to hear Guterres' message.

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Donald Trump (left), Joe Biden (centre), Xi Jinping (right) [Reuters]

After victory for Donald Trump, a climate change denier, in the U.S. presidential election, President Joe Biden will not attend. Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a deputy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is not attending because of political developments in Brussels.

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Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks during the Opening Ceremony of the United Nations climate change conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan November 12, 2024. (Reuters)

"On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price," Guterres said in a speech. "The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and time is not on our side."

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This year is set to be the hottest on record.

Scientists say evidence shows global warming and its impacts are unfolding faster than expected and the world may already have hit 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 F) of warming above the average pre-industrial temperature - a critical threshold beyond which it is at risk of irreversible and extreme climate change.

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An helicopter flies as smoke billows from the Mountain Fire in Santa Paula, California, U.S. (Reuters)

As COP29 began, unusual east coast U.S. wildfires that triggered air quality warnings for New York continued to grow.

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Damaged cars are seen along a road affected by torrential rains that caused flooding, on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, October 31, 2024. (Reuters)

In Spain, survivors are coming to terms with the worst floods in the country's modern history and the Spanish government has announced billions of euros for reconstruction.

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Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg takes part in the U.N. climate summit COP29 protest, in Tbilisi, Georgia November 11, 2024. (Reuters)

'Economy killer'

The summit opened on Monday with a technical deal seen as critical to launching a U.N.-backed global carbon market that would fund billions of dollars of projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev speaks at the Opening Ceremony of the United Nations climate change conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan November 12, 2024. (Reuters)

That success was marred by a row over the summit priorities - a procedural tug-of-war that pitched European and small island countries against the Arab group of nations on how prominent the future of fossil fuels should be on the agenda.

The opening procedures were delayed by at least five hours, ending in an eventual compromise reluctantly accepted by the EU and other aligned nations.

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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer attend the Opening Ceremony of the United Nations climate change conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan November 12, 2024. (Reuters)

At a press conference on Tuesday, COP29 officials sought to refocus attention on the summit's primary goal - agreeing a deal for up to $1 trillion in annual climate finance for developing countries.

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A beached whale installation by the Belgian art collective 'Captain Boomer' lies on embankment as a collective member hoses it down during the United Nations climate change conference COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan November 11, 2024. (Reuters)

"Enabling every country to take strong climate action is 100% in all countries' interests, even the largest and wealthiest. Why? Because the climate crisis is fast becoming an economy killer," said Simon Stiell, head of the UNFCCC climate body that facilitates the summit.

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People walk by an environmental awareness billboard at a metro station during the United Nations climate change conference COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan November 11, 2024. The slogan in the billboard reads: "If you don't think about the nature, think about your future!". (Reuters)

"Unless all countries can slash emissions deeply, every country and every household will be hammered even harder than they currently are. We'll be living in a permanent inflationary nightmare."

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