Climate Action Network Briefing for Pre-COP, Baku
October 2024
The COP29 Presidency of Azerbaijan has convened a pre-COP meeting of heads of delegations and country representatives in Baku from 9-11 October. The objective for the meeting is to make progress on critical areas of negotiations, including the New Collective Quantitative Goal on climate finance, Mitigation, Adaptation and Loss and Damage. Despite the clear and marked increase in the devastating climate impacts, progress in negotiations have been painfully slow and lacking in urgency. CAN International welcomes the preparatory session initiated by the COP29 Presidency and strongly urges all parties to use this critical opportunity to set a strong foundation for COP29 to ensure an ambitious outcome.
CAN hereby presents its expectations for the Pre-COP:
New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG):
- A public finance provision goal of a minimum of $1 trillion per year, the bulk of which should be grants, from developed to developing countries to cover mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage (L&D), as part of inclusive just transition pathways, in the context of a larger accumulating climate debt.
- The recognition of the principles of tax justice and ‘polluter pays’ within the frame of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities (CBDR-RC). Developed countries should take the lead in reorienting their existing public finances to do no harm, and pursuing tax justice for new sources to be able to provide new and additional climate finance under the NCQG.
- The finance goal should embody strong and principled qualitative elements, including but not limited to equity, differentiation, predictability, adequacy, additionality, affordability and non-debt inducing, integrity (especially with regards to climate finance for false solutions), just transitions and protecting and promoting human rights, gender equality and Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
- Establishing clear mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability as a core principle for the NCQG. Developing and agreeing to a clear definition of climate finance is essential for the effective implementation of transparency and accountability measures to ensure integrity and protect against greenwashing, including the exclusion of fossil fuels as climate finance. A fit-for-purpose Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) is key to ensure that the tracking of the delivery of climate finance.
- The structure of the NCQG must include:
- A public finance grants-based goal as the critical core
- Thematic subgoals for mitigation, adaptation, and loss & damage, with targets for the provision of public finance for each.
- CAN supports a NCQG with a 5-year cycle in terms of timeframes, with periodic reviews under the GST and regular upward ratcheting of NCQG ambition in-sync with the NDC cycle and taking into account the evolving needs of developing countries.
- With regards to the expansion of the “contributor base”, CAN strongly believes that developed countries must fulfill their obligations under the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement in terms of providing the means of implementation for developing countries to address climate change, in line with the principles of equity and CBDR-RC. In addition, in line with Article 9.2 of the Paris Agreement, we strongly encourage those countries who have the capacity to do so, to also make voluntary contributions.
Adaptation:
- Developed countries must urgently scale up the provision of adaptation finance to developing countries based on the current need and establish a clear roadmap for its delivery. There must be a clear signal that adaptation finance will be scaled up.
- The NCQG provides an opportunity to formally link the provision of climate finance to achieving the targets in the UAE Framework Global Climate Resilience. These linkages must be developed to embed the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) in the NCQG decision.
- The NCQG should consider and detail reforms needed to transform finance systems to make adequate resources accessible for locally-led adaptation (LLA). This includes ensuring access to finance at the local level, incorporating the Principles for LLA into the financial architecture, and integrating locally led strategies so that they can be adopted by stakeholders at all scales and levels.
- All parties must formulate or update their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by 2025. NAPs should be aligned with the NDCs and GST timeline of 2025 so progress can be effectively assessed as part of the second GST. At COP29, developed countries must agree to provide the required finance, technology transfers and capacity-building measures to support the formulation and implementation of NAPs in developing countries.
- Parties must agree on the work plan for 2025 to ensure that we can fully operationalise the GGA by 2025. However, without the Means of Implementation (MoI), the GGA targets risk becoming little more than aspirational goals. To prevent this, Parties must agree at COP29 to make MoI an integral part of the framework, ensuring that the GGA is backed by the resources and support necessary to achieve meaningful progress.
- Parties must ensure that the additional work under the UAE-Belem work programme strikes a careful balance between technical and political discussions. It is crucial that the process of developing new indicators remains inclusive and transparent, with broad participation from experts, civil society, and impacted communities.
- Parties must evaluate, update, and align the current NAPs with the eleven targets of the GGA Framework “UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience” and fast-track the update of technical guidelines.
- Agreement should be reached to establish the Global Goal on Adaptation as a permanent Agenda item.
Loss and Damage:
- Negotiators must clearly and decisively incorporate finance towards Loss and Damage as a separate sub-goal under the NCQG; L&D finance should be needs-based and public finance grants-based.
- Parties must make real progress towards a full rights-based operationalisation of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), including through addressing capitalisation, access to finance for Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, local CSOs and all groups experiencing marginalisation, and decisions on funded activities. Moreover, there should be dedicated mechanisms and mainstreaming of policies to ensure and enhance direct access for Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, local CSOs and groups experiencing marginalisation.
- The third review of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM) needs to ensure adequate coordination and coherence between the different entities in coordination with the high-level dialogue mandated as part of the FRLD. Moreover, the WIM review also needs to result in a definition of its role vis-a-vis the fund and how it can contribute to supporting the fund through its functions. Where on the contribution is developing an L&D gap report.
Just and Equitable 1.5℃ aligned NDCs:
- The COP Presidency must ensure that COP29 leads the NDC enhancement process through providing a ‘Roadmap for 1.5 & Climate Justice’. This roadmap on the one hand should include guidance to countries on how to ensure alignment of NDCs with climate justice and 1.5 degree pathways at national levels as well as how international cooperation will support the implementation of NDC’s.
- The mandated discussion on NDC Features at COP29 is a vital opportunity for Parties to reflect on how the outcome of the first Global Stocktake will be integrated in NDCs. The pre-COP meetings should lay the groundwork for this discussion. CAN has already shared our proposals for the elements of the ambitious NDC’s its letter to the Troika.
- Parties must address the issue of the inclusion of the agreement reached at COP28 on the need to transition away from fossil fuels, including how to finance this energy transition & realize a fair, fast, and funded phase-out of all fossil fuel production and consumption.
- The Mitigation Work Programme has thus far not delivered on its mandate to urgently scale-up pre-2030 ambition even as the GST outcome provides guidelines for post-2030 mitigation pathways. Parties should consider reformulating/redirecting the embattled MWP towards concrete proposals on delivering on the GST mitigation outcomes, especially paragraphs 20 to 42 of 1/CMA.5
- The UAE Dialogue, or any other high-level convening in its stead, must provide clear signals on the linkages between access to climate finance and the ability of nations to prepare and implement just, equitable and ambitious NDCs and LT-LEDS that deliver progress on the outcomes of the GST.
Civic space and human rights: Shrinking civic space globally is limiting the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Environmental human rights defenders – often calling for climate justice – are among those most targeted. In that context, CAN is deeply concerned that once again, a COP will be held in a country with severe restrictions on civic space. We are particularly alarmed with the arrests that have taken place in Azerbaijan over the past months in the context of the preparation of COP29, silencing dissenting voices in the country before the conference. COPs are a shared endeavor of all the Parties to the UNFCCC and the election of Azerbaijan as presidency of COP29 was made by consensus. In this context, each and every individual Party has a shared responsibility in ensuring the protection of the human rights of the participants to the COP. This includes calling on the host country and the UNFCCC Secretariat to take all measures required to ensure the safety, protection and the full respect of the human rights of all participants to the COP.
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Download file: http://CAN-pre-COP-Briefing_October-2024.pdf