Countries at the COP29 climate summit were warned on Wednesday that the “hardest part” was about to start in talks over how much money should be provided to developing countries to help them cope with climate change.
Figuring out what form that funding takes, who pays and how much is the main task of this year’s annual UN climate talks. With a notional Friday deadline looming, frustration over the lack of progress was starting to seep out of the negotiating rooms.
Yalchin Rafiyev, the chief negotiator of the summit’s host Azerbaijan said, “Now the hardest part begins,” ahead of a fresh text which is due to be released at midnight in the capital Baku.
Progress at the annual summit is typically marked through regular draft documents that get whittled down to a final deal.
Wealthy and developing countries are sharply divided over the size of the new goal. It will replace a 2020 pledge by developed countries — delivered two years late — to provide $100 billion per year in climate finance.
Uganda’s Adonia Ayebare, who chairs the G77 and China group of more than 130 developing countries, said its demand was for wealthy nations to provide $1.3 trillion in public climate finance per year.
“The frustration is that the other side has not given us a counteroffer,” Ayebare told Reuters. “We are hearing $300bn. But if that is true, that’s really not acceptable. It’s embarrassing,” he said.
Another developing country negotiator told Reuters that the European Union had floated $200bn or $300bn in informal talks. But on Wednesday, the EU maintained it did not have an official position on the number.
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the bloc was not willing to talk about the figure until it had more structural details, adding: “Otherwise you will have a shopping basket with a price, but you don’t know exactly what is in there.”
Countries are still at odds over whether large, still-developing economies, including the world’s second-biggest economy China, will contribute towards the goal.
Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad said countries had agreed better off developing nations would not be legally obliged to pay in.
Azerbaijan’s Rafiyev said the COP29 presidency would produce a tighter text overnight. In simple terms, a 25-page document stuffed with multiple options for almost every paragraph needs to become a two-page document that can be refined in the final days and then adopted.
“We will have shorter, more concise, straight to the point, texts,” Rafiyev said.
Opec secretary general says oil gift from God
While talks on finance have been slow, those on speeding up efforts to cut climate-damaging emissions are proving as tough.
After agreeing on a landmark deal to transition away from fossil fuels in Dubai last year, countries had so far failed to agree on language that would take that work forward in Baku.
Austria’s climate minister Leonore Gewessler told Reuters that the Arab group of countries led by Saudi Arabia had been “very vocal in watering down the mitigation part” of negotiations.
Haitham Al Ghais, secretary general of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, leaves after he delivered a statement during the United Nations climate change conference COP29 in Baku on November 20. — Reuters
A representative for Saudi Arabia’s delegation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has previously described the Dubai deal as a menu of options — suggesting not all countries will select quitting fossil fuels as their chosen path forward.
Opec Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais used a speech at the summit to say crude oil and natural gas were a gift from God, echoing the words of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, whose opening speech hit out at Western critics of the industry.
Getting a fresh commitment to cutting emissions more quickly has been thrown into sharp relief by a growing belief among scientists that the world’s aspirational goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C could soon be beyond reach.
Recent trends, if not changed, “will drive us to cross 1.5°C in the early 2030s or even slightly before”, said French climatologist Robert Vautard.
Vautrad is co-chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group 1 which assesses the physical science of climate change.
The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications expressed dismay over the absence of the relevant minister and secretary in a meeting on Monday and voiced concern over the throttling of virtual private networks (VPNs) in the country.
The use of VPNs has surged in Pakistan as people are using them to access X, which has been banned since February, as well as a host of other websites. Authorities claim the software is also being used to bypass restrictions on pornographic content, as well as to facilitate terrorists in violent activities.
Last week, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that VPN usage would be restricted in the future to curb access to pornographic content, following a disruption that rendered VPNs dysfunctional across the country on November 10.
The interior ministry on Friday asked the telecommunication authority to block “illegal VPNs” across Pakistan, citing the use by terrorists to “facilitate violent activities” and to “access pornographic and blasphemous content”.
The issue of VPNs was discussed in the Senate committee meeting chaired by PPP Senator Palwasha Khan who expressed indignation over the absence of Minister of State for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja and the federal IT secretary, resolving to raise the matter with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“It is a pity that today is the third meeting of the committee and Minister of State for IT Shaza Fatima did not come,” she said, adding that people across the country were facing problems due to internet disruption since the jobs of young people were linked with the internet.
“The day we ask the ministry for an answer, we get a reply in return that the minister is busy. We will now place this whole situation before the prime minister.”
Today’s meeting was attended by PML-N Senator Afnanullah Khan, PTA chairman retired Gen Hafeezur Rehman, PTI Senator Mohammad Humayun Mohmand and JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza.
The PTA chairman said that the IT industry and freelancers could not function without the use of VPNs.
He said that businesses who registered VPNs would not be affected by the internet shutdown, adding that VPNs were not needed by every freelancer.
“Currently, anything can be accessed via VPNs in Pakistan,” he said adding that Islamic scholars were referred to regarding the issue of people accessing immoral sites.
Senator Afnanullah highlighted that “wrong” content on Instagram and TikTok could be openly accessed and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) law did not allow VPN blocking under any circumstances.
Meanwhile, Murtaza pointed out that the internet services were suspended in Balochistan and questioned whether that was also due to such “wrong” activities.
The PTA chairman said that there was an ongoing operation in Balochistan and the internet was shut down due to security concerns after a letter by the interior ministry requesting the internet’s suspension.
The meeting discussed countrywide internet disruptions with the Senate committee chairperson asking if the internet speeds were affected now.
The PTA chairman explained that there was no disruption except previously in August due to a faulty submarine cable.
The committee resolved to hold a meeting again before Nov 30.
