“At the end of the day, we will see whether this COP was a success or not by measuring dollars and euros.” The opinion is that of Jorge Moreira da Silva, appointed by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, as executive director of UNOPS – United Nations Office for Project Services. At the inauguration of the Portuguese pavilion at COP 29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, the person responsible says that “the success of the event will only be measured by one thing: knowing whether the goal that has been on the table until now, for the last 20 years, of climate financing, which is 100 billion dollars per year, in support from North to South, will be revised by another target that puts us at billions of dollars”.
For Jorge Moreira da Silva, the numbers don’t lie: to limit global warming to 1.5°C, we have to have carbon dioxide naturalness by 2050, and for that we need a 42% reduction in emissions by 2030, which will require 6 trillion billion dollars of investment per year, and at the moment we have 1.2 billion. “And 2.4 trillion are still needed for developing countries, when these countries at the moment have only benefited from 100 billion in public aid”, he explains.
And he warns: “We can make very beautiful speeches in favor of decarbonization, the promotion of renewables, but if at the moment of truth the countries of the North – which are rich – do not support the countries of the South in decarbonization, it will not work. We will not being able to stop warming if there is no international solidarity. It is an investment in global climate action.”
In Brazil, the scenario will be different and in 2025 the success of COP 30 will be evaluated in terms of new targets for greenhouse gas emissions. “I don’t believe that ambitious goals can be reached in Brazil if here in Baku we don’t have ambitious financing goals.”
In her speech at COP 29, next week, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, will defend that climate financing be divided between more portfolios, and not just paid by the same ones as usual.
“We want any increase in global funding to be accompanied by an increase in the number of countries contributing. It is incomprehensible that countries like China or Saudi Arabia continue to be considered developing countries entitled to receive climate change aid funding It is a position that the European Union brings to this COP, and we are perfectly aligned”, he told journalists.
Asked about how China is reacting to this requirement, she replied: “It’s always very difficult. There’s always the argument of historical debt, but the historical debt is already, in the case of China, almost being paid off, just with the amount of emissions that the country emits. And countries like Saudi Arabia, with great economic power, must help in the development of the poorest countries, particularly African countries, which are those that suffer most from the effects of climate change”.
In the minister’s opinion, more than increasing the amount of financing, it is important to increase the number of those who contribute, because it creates a “system that opens up a great perspective for the future, because these are countries with great financial capacity to help others. It would be the most important result”, he concluded.
When it comes to the USA and the lack of its economic power, the minister says it is better to wait and “see what will happen”.
“The United States is Portugal’s great partner. Let’s see what happens, I’m not so pessimistic. We need to have hope,” he said.
Bárbara Silva, at Cop 29, in Baku
(The journalist traveled as part of the Business Sustainability 20|30 initiative)
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
