If the plan goes on well, developing countries now battling with how to curtail the impact of climate change may find help from donor countries specifically to mitigate the effect of climate change. When that happens, the benefitting countries would have Azerbaijan to thank.
The country, which is the host of 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29), has called on Fossil-fuel producing countries and companies to pay into a new international fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of the climate crisis. It is targeting about 1 billion dollars.
The major countries being expected to contribute to the fund include the United States, China, India, Japan, Poland and Turkey. The climate investment fund, according to the host, will be used to invest in projects in the developing world that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help build resilience to the impacts of extreme weather.
The chief negotiator for the Cop 29 presidency, Yalchin Rafiyev, said that developing countries will be eligible to access the fund.
So, why did Azerbaijan raise this option for dealing with climate change? Rafijev said, “Traditional funding methods have proven to be inadequate to the challenges of the climate crisis, so we have decided on a different approach. The fund will be capitalised with contributions from fossil-fuel countries and companies and will catalyse the private sector. Any developing country will be eligible [to receive money from] the fund,” he said.
But contributions to the fund will be voluntary and no mechanism is proposed to force the countries and companies most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions to pay into it.
Setting up the fund at Cop 29 represents a first attempt within the UN climate negotiations to link fossil fuel-producing countries and industries with a responsibility to help poor countries pay for the consequences they face from the climate crisis. Meanwhile , the global engagement director at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, Harjeet Singh stated that it must not serve as a free pass for continued extraction of gas, oil and coal.
He said, “While the announcement of a new fund for developing countries echoes the longstanding demands for holding the fossil fuel industry accountable, it must not serve as a free pass for continued extraction of gas, oil and coal.
“The fossil fuel industry has caused the climate crisis and must be adequately penalised to pay for the transition and climate damages.”
Azerbaijan is seeking at least $1bn from at least 10 countries and big companies to capitalise the fund.
The fund will be headquartered in Baku, the Azerbaijan capital, and its overseeing board will be made up of representatives from the contributors, and will be independent of existing multilateral development banks, including the World Bank.
