We’re winding up the Cop liveblog for today. There was little in the way of concrete action but that is to be expected as the summit moves into its final stages, where torturous negotiations take priority over flashy announcements.
The main events today:
Argentina’s foreign minister said the country will stay in the Paris agreement, after negotiators representing the government of climate science denier Javier Milei were ordered to withdraw last week.
The head of OPEC echoed the Azerbaijani President’s comments in praise of oil and gas – “They are indeed a gift of God.”
The Maldives urged countries to keep pushing for 1.5C even as some experts dismissed the target – “We must, must try.”
Money is the key question at this Cop, but no country has so far put any on the table, my colleague Fiona Harvey explained in a breakdown of what’s at stake.
Developing countries responded with ridicule to a climate finance target in the $200-300bn range that had reportedly been proposed by the EU – “Is that a joke?”
“We’re reaching a point of real emotion here,” campaigners warned.
Those are the key points from today. We’ll be back with you tomorrow morning for another day of live coverage as the negotiations heat up.
$1.3tn, $900bn, $600bn, $440bn, $100bn – pick a number
The negotiations at Cop29 largely take place in private. But the ministers charged with pushing progress do make occasional short reports in public. This happened earlier with Chris Bowen, Australia’s climate change minister, and he revealed the kinds of climate finance figures being talked about in the closed rooms, though countries proposing them are not named. Bowen, and Egypt’s environment minister Yasmine Fouad, have been appointed by the Azerbaijani presidency to facilitate the all-important finance negotiations.
“I heard from developing countries a requirement of $1.3tn trillion of finance mobilised,” Bowen said. “But we heard different proposals for the split between the provided element [grants] and the element which would be mobilised [loans and private investment].”
“For example, we’ve heard three different proposals for the provided quantum of $900bn, $600bn and $440bn. Others have mentioned a floor of $100 billion, with linkages to the contributor base resolution, as well as sources and structure.”
To unpack that, the higher numbers will have been proposed by the developing nations and the lower one from a developed one. The “linkages” mean that the money would be tied to agreements on countries not currently required to provide finance formally chipping in, such as China and Saudi Arabia, and private investment being included.
“We heard from some groups that allocations are very important, but others expressed the view that they could not accept allocations because of concerns with regional balance,” Bowen said.
That is likely to be the Least Developed Countries group, of 45 nations, which is calling for $220bn a year to be specifically allocated to them, while the small island state group, Aosis, which is calling for $39bn.
Tasneem Essop, from Climate Action Network International, said:“Developed countries are insisting that the issue of the expansion of the contributor base and the role of the private sector must be decided before they put an amount forward. This is an attempt to distract us.
“The Paris Agreement is clear,” she said “It is the developed countries‘ responsibility to provide developing countries the climate finance needed to address the climate crisis and they need to pay up.” She called the $200bn-$300bn figure for public finance the EU is reported to have proposed informally “pathetic”.
Mohamed Adow, from Power Shift Africa, said: “This is a climate ‘Cop’ and we’re dealing with a climate crime. But those responsible are trying to wriggle their way out. It’s important for developing countries to maintain solidarity and demand in unison that the global north polluters honour their responsibilities. They shouldn’t fall for the divide-and-rule tactic, which rich developed countries historically use to get away from their obligations.”
My colleague Fiona Harvey posted an excellent primer on the numbers earlier today.
