Minister welcomes last-minute COP29 deal

Fractious talks to secure a new climate finance deal at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, reached the finish line in the early hours of yesterday morning, with the rich world pledging to raise funding flows to at least $300bn a year by 2035. Fin24 reports that the talks nearly collapsed when the least developed countries (LDCs) walked out on Sunday afternoon, and Germany accused the host country of allowing Saudi Arabia to edit draft texts of the agreement. Developing countries had lobbied for funding of $1.3trn to meet a costed energy transition estimated at $5.1trn to $6.8trn by 2030. This sum also includes funding for adaptation to climate change. The $300bn replaces a $100bn goal set at COP16 in 2010. While developing countries were deeply unhappy with the funds pledged, South Africa's Minister of Fisheries, Forestry & the Environment Dion George said the striking of a deal was a significant success, given the gulf between the two extremes and the walkout by the LDCs. ‘I don't share the view that it was a disappointing outcome. There were extreme positions, but over time, we managed to coalesce. We talked to the LDCs to say it is not helpful to be out.’

George added that if COP29 had collapsed, it would have been a discouraging and difficult start for SA's presidency of the G20. ‘On the quantum of the money, most developing countries are unhappy with that, but it is an ongoing conversation. We also must be mindful that the world is moving to the right, and it is more difficult for the developed world to persuade voters to support the developing world.’ Fin24 notes that George said SA had supported the developing world's position that China, Saudi Arabia, and others should not be included in the $300bn contribution pool. These countries – especially China – already contributed to climate funding through concessional loans to the developing world.

Lisakhanya Mathiso of the African Climate Alliance, who returned from smoggy Baku, said: ‘The delegates were not planning (or taking) any initiative. They were pushing everything to next year, warming up for COP30 in Brazil.’ At COP30, countries must submit new road maps for climate action. Developing countries are the most vulnerable to the more frequent and intense floods, heatwaves and droughts, as well as other climate shocks, triggered by the planet heating up, while the developed world is responsible for most of the planet-warming emissions. The Sunday Times notes that Dr Githinji Gitahi, CEO of Amref Health Africa, illustrated this point by saying: ‘Consider the DRC. With a per capita carbon emission of just 0.04 metric tons, it would take the average Congolese citizen more than 400 years to match the emissions of a citizen in a high-income country such as the US, Canada or Australia.’ ‘For many Africans ... the immediate threat of climate change is not their carbon footprint but their vulnerability to its effects,’ he said. ‘Global warming is no longer an issue for the environment but a crisis of life itself.’ SA has the highest per capita carbon emissions on the continent and is the 14th-highest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world because of its reliance on coal. At COP29, Eskom presented its plan for a transition to renewable energy that does not leave communities near its power plants stranded.'