President UN General Assembly calls for ensuring $100 billion climate finance to support developing countries in their climate response

BAKU: President of the General Assembly Philemon Yang said that first key outcome of COP29 must be the delivery of a new collective quantified goal for climate finance, to address the unmet promise of $100 billion per year to support developing countries in their climate response.

Addressing high level segment opening ceremony at COP 29, President of the General Assembly Philemon Yang said that we meet at a moment of urgent need to go beyond words and deliver on climate action.

He said that United Nations Environment Programme’s 2024 Emissions Gap Report warns that emissions are at an all-time high, projecting a catastrophic temperature rise of 3.1°C by the end of the century.

“This trajectory promises a surge in climate disasters, with consequences falling hardest on the most vulnerable communities, underscoring our urgent, collective responsibility to act quickly and decisively,” he said.

He called for undertaking several measures to avert further climate disaster and ensure our resilience.

He said that chief among them is to deliver on the necessary finance commitments as without financing climate action will simply not happen.

He said that first key outcome of COP29 must be the delivery of a new collective quantified goal for climate finance, to address the unmet promise of $100 billion per year to support developing countries in their climate response.

President Yang made clear that climate finance is not a subcategory of financing for development but climate finance should be additional to official development assistance.

“This means that developing countries should have access to financing – not only to eradicate poverty and foster sustainable, inclusive, and resilient economic growth, but not at the expense of being able to respond to the adverse impacts of climate change and build climate resilience,” he said.

“To put it simply, no developing country should have to choose between sustainable development and addressing climate change,” he mentioned.

He said that we need to achieve both sustainable development and addressing climate change.

“And what is more, the new collective quantified goal must include a significant scale-up of grant-based public finance for mitigation and adaptation,” he said

He pointed out that the loss and damage fund was operationalized last year and expressed hope to see ambitious pledges towards it as we go forward.

“We cannot continue sleepwalking towards the climate abyss and then say we did not know how to tackle it,” he said.

He told the participants that second key outcome of COP29 must be to continue to pursue efforts in line with the 1.5 degree Celsius pathways, while reaffirming our goal to limit global temperatures, as we agreed to in Paris, and in September, with the pact for the future.

“A global commitment to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all and a just and equitable transition, driven by adequate, predictable and additional climate finance, is essential to reducing emissions,” he said.

He said that third key outcome is to fix the adaptation dilemma as every year that we delay taking decisive action the impact of climate change worsens, necessitating more resources and more delivery.

He was of the view that as it stands, current global financial flows for adaptation—both private and public—remain insufficient, as highlighted by the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“As a result, our capacity to implement effective adaptation strategies and build resilience, particularly in developing nations, remains severely limited,” he said.

“We must do much better, striving to build momentum from the pact for the future which member states adopted last September,” he said adding that the pact was crafted to reinvigorate our multilateral system and make much needed progress in achieving the sustainable development goals – which necessarily entails urgent, ambitious climate action.

“COP29 is an opportunity to do just that, delivering meaningful outcomes that demonstrate solidarity in the face of immense adversity,” he said.

He said that as we look towards COP30 to be hosted by Brazil, we must recognize the need to significantly enhance international cooperation and the international enabling environment to stimulate ambition in the next round of nationally determined contributions.

He commended Azerbaijan’s Presidency of COP29 for its leadership in building consensus to enhance ambition and enable action across all mandates. He said that COP29 Presidency’s initiatives such as the Climate Action Finance Fund, demonstrate that Azerbaijan is leading by example.

He emphasized that urgency of the climate crisis requires decisive action and COP29 must continue the transition from agreement to action, delivering more and faster on each element of the climate agenda.

He also appreciated establishment of a COP Troika and said that this initiative will be crucial in maintaining continuity and coherence in our efforts, ensuring that each conference builds on the progress of the last with greater focus and ambition.

“With this strengthened framework, I look forward to enhanced collective efforts under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement towards meaningful climate action. The lives and livelihoods of future generations depend on our decisions here today,” he added.