‘Cut the stage’: UN climate chief tells COP29 negotiators to focus on solutions as talks enter last week

“We cannot lose the forest because we are fighting over individual trees,” Simon Stiell said, calling on delegates to wrap up “less controversial issues” as soon as possible this week to allow enough time for decisions. important political decisions.

COP29 opened in the Azerbaijani capital last Monday with the main goal of reaching an agreement on enhanced financing to address the worsening impacts of global warming.

In spite of early breakthrough on the standards that would pave the way for a United Nations-governed carbon market, climate finance negotiations have been slow and contentious, with delegations trying to find common ground instead of finding common ground. find common ground.

Time for business, not the brink

Mr. Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, emphasized: “Deceptive, brinksmanship and pre-arranged plays” are burning up precious time and draining the necessary goodwill for an ambitious package (UNFCCC), where the annual COP meetings are convened.

The risks are too high for “an explosion of ‘you first’ism…where party groups dig in and refuse to deal with one issue, until everyone else moves on to another,” he said. ” he said and the only way to get the job done is “if the Parties are willing to move forward in parallel, bringing us closer to common ground.”

Mr. Stiell’s call came after the UN Secretary General António Guterres also voiced concerns on the status of negotiations at COP29, noting that countries must agree to ambitious climate finance targets that meet the scale of challenges facing developing countries.

Speaking to reporters in Rio on Sunday ahead of the G20 summit, the United Nations chief said that “now is the time for the world’s largest economies and emitters to show leadership. Failure is not an option.”

More to follow…