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

“We can’t lose sight of the forest because we’re tussling over individual trees,” said Simon Stiell, urging delegates to wrap up “less contentious issues” as early as possible this week, so there is enough time for the major political decisions.

COP29 opened in the Azerbaijan capital this past Monday with the main goal of reaching agreement on scaling up finance to address the worsening impacts of global warming.

Despite an early breakthrough on standards that will pave the way for a UN-governed carbon market, the talks on climate finance have been slow and contentions, with delegations digging in their heels rather than looking for common ground.

Time for business, not brinkmanship

“Bluffing, brinksmanship, and pre-mediated playbooks” are burning up precious time and running down the goodwill needed for an ambitious package, emphasized Mr. Stiell, who is the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which convenes the annual COP meetings.

The stakes are too high for “an outbreak of ‘you-first-ism’…where groups of parties dig in and refuse to move on one issue, until others move elsewhere,” he said and the only way to get the job done is “if Parties are prepared to step forward in parallel, bringing us closer to common ground.”

Mr. Stiell’s plea comes after UN Secretary-General António Guterres also voiced concern over the state of negotiations at COP29, noting that countries must agree to an ambitious climate finance goal that meets the scale of the challenge faced by developing countries.

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

More to follow…