UN Climate Change Conference (COP29)

It is a pleasure to join you today at PreCop, and I thank the Government of Azerbaijan for hosting us.  I appreciate the constructive engagement and leadership of the troika.

I welcome all the hard work done so far, including yesterday, which sends helpful signals for agreement at COP29 on the New Collective Quantified Goal.  However, as the UN Secretary-General has said, we are at a moment of truth in our fight against the climate crisis.

We are minutes to midnight in our efforts to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C.  We are witnessing the consequences of inaction in real time.  As we meet, the west coast of Florida is reeling from the catastrophic impacts of hurricane Milton.  Extreme weather is devastating lives and livelihoods around the world, with those who contributed the least paying the highest price.

But there is hope and we are moving in the right direction. At the signing of the Paris Agreement, the world was heading towards four degrees Celsius of warming.  By Dubai we were headed for somewhere between 2.1 and 2.8 degrees based on the UNFCCC’s synthesis report.

Last year at COP28, you all committed to make 1.5°C a reality in your next generation of nationally determined contributions and you acknowledged that the transition away from fossil fuels must accelerate in this critical decade.  And at last month’s Summit of the Future, world leaders from the Global North and South came together to agree on steps to begin reforming our international financial architecture:

Raising the voice and representation of developing countries in our international financial institutions to build trust and legitimacy.  Scaling up development finance to unlock the scale of resources required to meet today’s vast financing gaps.  Overhauling the debt architecture to free up fiscal space and give countries the confidence to invest boldly in their economies.  And creating a stronger global financial safety net to protect economies when crises strike.

COP29 must build on this momentum -- and translate the ambitions and commitments in the Global Stocktake into real-world, real-economy outcomes.  In November, you must agree on an ambitious new climate finance goal that meets the scale of the challenge faced by developing countries.  Success is an imperative if we are to keep 1.5°C a reality.  We can only meet the goals of the Paris Agreement if every country has the means to accelerate climate mitigation and adaptation action.

The New Collective Quantified Goal -- or NCQG -- is an opportunity to reimagine your economies, climate finance, restore trust, build solidarity, and catalyse ambition.  It must help address the well-known challenges faced by developing countries:  high cost of capital, high levels of indebtedness, and insufficient risk-bearing and affordable capital.  It must send the right political and policy signals to markets and investors:  building confidence in the direction of travel.  And it must drive further progress in reforming the international financial architecture and implementing innovative sources of finance.

Yesterday’s high-level ministerial dialogue on the NQCG provided important direction and momentum to this process.  I heard from you a willingness to find common ground on outstanding elements, building on our shared ambition to keep 1.5 within reach and secure a climate resilient future.  There was also a clear recognition on the importance of the NQCG as an enabler of ambition and action. 

Positions are well known.  Now is the time to work together to find agreement.  We must also secure agreement on Article 6, with an outcome from COP29 that is effective, fair, and ready for implementation.  We need high integrity carbon markets that are credible and with rules consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C.

Baku must be an enabling COP.  It marks the beginning of the deadline for the next generation of nationally determined contributions -- or NDCs. 

These must be economy-wide and aligned with the 1.5°limit, covering all sectors and all greenhouse gases.  They must also show how each country intends to transition away from fossil fuels, in line with the COP28 outcome.  This is a chance for countries to align energy strategies and development priorities with climate ambition.

And the Group of 20 (G20), who have the greatest capacity and responsibility, must demonstrate to the rest of the world what good looks like -- on ambition, quality, and process.

If COP29 is to deliver the concrete outcomes urgently needed, your work here is absolutely vital.  We need success to be in reach when decision-makers arrive here in Baku next month.  Right now, the greatest threat to global ambition is lack of political will to act.

In today’s fraught and divided world, we must redouble our collective efforts to keep 1.5 within reach and protect those on the frontlines of the climate crisis.  And we must ensure justice and equity so that no country is left behind in the race to net zero.  The UN is here to support you every step of the way, as convenors and custodians of this process.

So, I urge you to keep a laser focus on the concrete outcomes needed this year.  And to keep a spirit of compromise and global solidarity at the fore, especially in the harder moments ahead.  Thank you for your crucial service and for your dedication, to people and planet.

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