Tough Negotiations Ahead at UN Climate Conference in Baku

Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed highlighted that negotiations at the upcoming UN climate conference in Baku will be extremely challenging, with a new finance goal at the center. Nasheed expressed that achieving consensus and holding rich nations accountable will be tough due to differing views on crucial terms.

Negotiations at the UN climate conference in Baku this November are anticipated to be extremely challenging, according to former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed. He emphasized that reaching an agreement on a new finance goal is essential to breaking the current political deadlock surrounding climate action.

In an interview with PTI, Nasheed, who serves as the Secretary-General of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), stated that Azerbaijan's commitment to negotiating higher climate responsibilities at COP29 will be put to the test. The CVF, an alliance of 68 countries highly vulnerable to climate change, was founded in 2009 and now represents 1.74 billion people.

Nasheed pointed out that climate finance should be perceived as a responsibility rather than aid, underlining that massive investments are necessary to effectively combat climate change. He warned that achieving consensus on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) at COP29 will be difficult, given discrepancies between richer and developing nations on key terminologies.

(With inputs from agencies.)