Mukhtar Babayev: COP29 will be litmus test for global climate action, cooperation

COP29, scheduled to be held in Azerbaijan this November, will be a litmus test for the Paris Agreement and global climate action and cooperation, COP-29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev said in his letter to event participants.

The letter emphasizes the need to prioritize cooperation and tackle climate change despite increasing geopolitical tensions and global uncertainty.

Babayev noted that climate change is not a future risk, it is a real and present danger to billions of people around the world.

“I have recently witnessed the perilous impacts of climate change as I have visited communities on the frontlines, from Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Climate change threatens to undermine decades of progress in global development, with devastating consequences for so many, while climate action promises a better future for all. Growing geopolitical tensions and uncertainty in the international environment must not distract us from the imperative to collaborate and address climate change as the greatest transnational challenge of the century,” he said.

According to the COP29 president-designate, the multilateral system is under pressure to show it can deliver at the speed and scale needed.

“COP29 will be a litmus test for the Paris Agreement and global climate action and cooperation. We must address all of the most fundamental and pressing issues at COP29, with a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) as a centrepiece,” he said.

“Our actions should be guided by the latest science and informed by the outcomes of the Global Stocktake, agreed by Parties at COP28, with its roadmap for keeping 1.5C within reach, while leaving no one behind. COP29 will be essential to delivering the means of implementation and support, and ensuring that everyone reaches for the highest possible ambition reflecting equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances,” Babayev added.

He also reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s commitment to delivering COP29 in a transparent, impartial, inclusive and party-driven manner. “We now need everyone to take ownership of the process and engage in good faith to act swiftly,” he stressed.

News.Az