COP28 president Dr. Sultan Al Jaber has called on parties to “prove once again that we can unite, act and deliver” at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Al Jaber made the call in his handover address on the first day of COP29, in which he hailed the efforts made in delivering the “historic” UAE Consensus last year.
Negotiators at COP28 had “proved that multilateralism can move the dial and make a difference,” he said in his address. “In the end, determination conquered doubt and your hard work paid off with first after first for climate progress.”
UAE Consensus
The UAE Consensus included agreement on an orderly and equitable energy transition, as well as establishing goals for tripling renewable energy capacity, doubling energy efficiency and ending deforestation by the end of the decade.
However, this progress “did not end when the gavel came down”, Al Jaber added, noting that since COP28, several initiatives have gained pace – including the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), to which 55 companies have signed up.
“When sectors work together, we can lift economies and lower emissions. We can make climate and socio-economic progress, and we can turn declarations on paper into decisive action on the ground,” he said.
Climate finance goal
At COP29, he added, agreeing on a New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance must be an imperative, he noted – one that is “robust and capable of fully implementing the UAE Consensus”.
This, in turn, will help to shape the dialogue at COP30 in Brazil next year, part of a “mechanism for momentum” uniting the Presidencies of COP28, COP29 and COP30.
“The consensus we achieved in Dubai was historic,” Al Jaber added. “Yet history will judge us by our actions, not our words. […] Let positivity prevail and let it power the process. Let actions speak louder than words. Let results outlast the rhetoric and remember, we are what we do, not what we say.” Read more here. [Photo: UN Climate Change]
