Blitz Bureau
Azerbaijan , the COP29’s host country, has told the UN climate conference that oil and gas are a “gift of God”. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev criticised “Western fake news” about the country’s emissions and said nations “should not be blamed” for having fossil fuel reserves. The country plans to expand gas production by up to a third over the next decade.
Shortly afterwards, UN chief António Guterres told the conference that doubling down on the use of fossil fuels was “absurd”.
Some big world leaders are skipping the UN climate talks from November 11-22. Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi and Emmanuel Macron are among the G20 leaders missing the event. India, as part of the Like-Minded Developing Countries bloc, stood firm in calling for equitable financial support from developed nations at the ongoing COP29 climate negotiations, according to sources. At the annual climate talks, India negotiates in key groupings such as the LMDCs, G77 and China, and BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, and China), where it aligns with other developing nations to advocate for climate finance, equity, and technology transfer.
On November 12, G77 and China — the largest bloc representing around 130 countries at the UN climate talks — rejected the draft text of a framework for negotiating a new climate finance goal.
The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is the central issue at this year’s climate summit, the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) collectively negotiating and working to keep global greenhouse gases’ emissions under check. In the discussions centred on long-term climate finance, the LMDCs, alongside the African Group and the Arab Group, questioned the accountability of developed nations in reaching the $100 billion annual climate finance goal set years ago, which remains contentious.
This stance, reinforced by India and other LMDC members, underscores a broader push at COP29 for sustainable climate finance that ensures accessibility for all developing nations.
