BAKU: Pressure mounted on wealthy nations on Wednesday to put a figure on the table as time runs out at COP29 to strike a deal on climate assistance for poorer countries.

With two days left to break the impasse at the UN talks in Azerbaijan, rich nations have still not revealed how much they are ready to provide the developing world to fight climate change.

“We need a figure,” said Adonia Ayebare, chair of the G77+China group of developing nations. “Then the rest will follow. But we need a headline,” the Ugandan negotiator told reporters. Developing nations, from islands imperilled by rising seas to drought-afflicted states, contribute the least to global warming but have called for $1.3 trillion annually to prepare for its impacts.

They say rich historic polluters have a duty to help, and are clamouring for an existing commitment of $100 billion a year to be increased many times over at COP29.

Wealthy countries pledge not to build new unabated coal-power plants

Talks have gone around in circles for over a week but a slimmed-down draft is expected to land in the early hours of Thursday, ensuring a sleepless night for negotiators. “I’m sure we will have some long days and hours ahead of us […] This will be a very steep climb,” EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told reporters.

Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said it was difficult to speed things up “when there’s nothing to negotiate”. “The concern is that at this moment, nobody is putting a figure on the table,” Muhamad said.

Rich countries on the hook for climate finance, including the European Union and United States, say they cannot show their hand until they know what they are agreeing to. “Otherwise […] you will have a shopping basket with a price, but you don’t know exactly what is in there,” said Hoekstra. “We don’t just want to pluck a number from the sky,” echoed Germany’s climate envoy Jennifer Morgan.

Bolivia’s chief negotiator, Diego Pacheco, said there was a “steadily receding hope of getting an ambitious” deal and cited $200bn as one number in circulation. “Only 200 billion,” he told the conference. “This is unfathomable, we cannot accept this.” The lead negotiator of COP29 hosts Azerbaijan, Yalchin Rafiyev, urged countries to “pick up the pace”.

‘No new coal’

Twenty-five countries at the COP29 climate summit on Wednesday pledged not to build any new unabated coal-power plants, in a push to accelerate the phase-out of the highly polluting fossil fuel.

The United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and major coal producer Australia were among the list of mainly wealthy developed economies to sign the voluntary pledge in Azerbaijan.

It commits nations to submit national climate plans early next year that reflect no new unabated coal in their energy systems.

Unabated refers to coal burned without any measures to reduce its emissions, such as carbon capture and storage, technologies criticised as unproven at a large scale.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024