Berliner Boersenzeitung - Lame-duck US climate team vows to be 'effective' at COP29

EUR -
AED 3.865039
AFN 71.961868
ALL 97.885367
AMD 409.705534
ANG 1.898038
AOA 960.733931
ARS 1055.061215
AUD 1.613881
AWG 1.894109
AZN 1.787029
BAM 1.951539
BBD 2.126437
BDT 125.855234
BGN 1.956342
BHD 0.396578
BIF 3110.579445
BMD 1.052283
BND 1.414399
BOB 7.293078
BRL 6.086683
BSD 1.053191
BTN 88.848028
BWP 14.387453
BYN 3.446543
BYR 20624.740218
BZD 2.122845
CAD 1.469502
CDF 3014.78969
CHF 0.929776
CLF 0.037101
CLP 1023.776253
CNY 7.619996
CNH 7.625593
COP 4626.455438
CRC 534.824751
CUC 1.052283
CUP 27.885491
CVE 110.024795
CZK 25.350861
DJF 187.538784
DKK 7.458788
DOP 63.520417
DZD 140.573397
EGP 52.274979
ERN 15.78424
ETB 131.306162
FJD 2.388363
FKP 0.830585
GBP 0.832524
GEL 2.883571
GGP 0.830585
GHS 16.7185
GIP 0.830585
GMD 74.71233
GNF 9078.051459
GTQ 8.13025
GYD 220.338958
HKD 8.189863
HNL 26.613518
HRK 7.506205
HTG 138.346648
HUF 411.186809
IDR 16734.714279
ILS 3.929639
IMP 0.830585
INR 88.911049
IQD 1379.588093
IRR 44293.214291
ISK 145.520299
JEP 0.830585
JMD 166.933965
JOD 0.746386
JPY 162.676061
KES 136.007134
KGS 91.02957
KHR 4249.68174
KMF 491.94202
KPW 947.053999
KRW 1471.222726
KWD 0.323672
KYD 0.877684
KZT 523.167824
LAK 23125.51255
LBP 94319.785398
LKR 306.411046
LRD 190.622024
LSL 19.101997
LTL 3.107117
LVL 0.636515
LYD 5.138732
MAD 10.521031
MDL 19.167154
MGA 4930.189594
MKD 61.546561
MMK 3417.773046
MNT 3575.656436
MOP 8.443666
MRU 41.866002
MUR 48.839087
MVR 16.268296
MWK 1826.195708
MXN 21.380416
MYR 4.698412
MZN 67.293799
NAD 19.101997
NGN 1768.455747
NIO 38.755022
NOK 11.613586
NPR 142.154623
NZD 1.792324
OMR 0.40513
PAB 1.053101
PEN 3.996674
PGK 4.239684
PHP 62.126243
PKR 292.773138
PLN 4.342422
PYG 8247.914831
QAR 3.840515
RON 4.977085
RSD 117.020141
RUB 106.281009
RWF 1452.315514
SAR 3.95054
SBD 8.79238
SCR 14.332083
SDG 632.944958
SEK 11.610939
SGD 1.413951
SHP 0.830585
SLE 23.75528
SLL 22065.84631
SOS 601.88026
SRD 37.282669
STD 21780.126598
SVC 9.214882
SYP 2643.891613
SZL 19.091139
THB 36.458458
TJS 11.216013
TMT 3.682989
TND 3.324243
TOP 2.464553
TRY 36.27081
TTD 7.130433
TWD 34.270209
TZS 2791.031424
UAH 43.426878
UGX 3886.514989
USD 1.052283
UYU 45.021709
UZS 13526.469111
VES 48.861031
VND 26751.65603
VUV 124.929112
WST 2.937543
XAF 654.521833
XAG 0.033884
XAU 0.000395
XCD 2.843846
XDR 0.801343
XOF 654.521833
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.991742
ZAR 19.064031
ZMK 9471.810193
ZMW 29.146091
ZWL 338.834589
  • CMSC

    -0.0450

    24.52

    -0.18%

  • GSK

    -0.0300

    33.32

    -0.09%

  • BCE

    -0.2750

    26.725

    -1.03%

  • SCS

    -0.0100

    13.06

    -0.08%

  • RIO

    0.0000

    62.39

    0%

  • BCC

    2.2300

    139.64

    +1.6%

  • AZN

    0.5900

    63.79

    +0.92%

  • RBGPF

    -0.5000

    59.69

    -0.84%

  • JRI

    0.0350

    13.265

    +0.26%

  • CMSD

    0.0900

    24.35

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.3600

    45.47

    +0.79%

  • BTI

    -0.1000

    36.98

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1900

    6.8

    +2.79%

  • VOD

    -0.0350

    8.905

    -0.39%

  • BP

    0.2200

    29.3

    +0.75%

  • NGG

    -0.2200

    63.05

    -0.35%

Lame-duck US climate team vows to be 'effective' at COP29
Lame-duck US climate team vows to be 'effective' at COP29 / Photo: Alexander NEMENOV - AFP

Lame-duck US climate team vows to be 'effective' at COP29

They may be out of a job when Donald Trump takes office in two months, but US officials kept a busy schedule at UN climate talks, reminding jittery countries that global action had survived his first term.

Text size:

President Joe Biden's lame-duck climate envoy, John Podesta, scurried back and forth to meetings and events across the cavernous halls of the COP29 conference in Baku.

Among the slew of pavilions put up by countries to host panel discussions, it was business as usual at the US site, where it is hosting chats throughout the two-week gathering.

The United States is also in the thick of complex negotiations to reach a deal on dramatically increasing financing to help poorer countries adapt to climate change and transition to cleaner energy.

But the return of climate-sceptic Trump, who has vowed to pull the US out of the Paris agreement again, remained a hot topic of conversation.

"There's no doubt that the lack of federal action on climate change is a big problem, and it's going to hobble US climate action," said Rachel Cleetus, a policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"But here at COP29 the Biden administration is still a government, and we expect them here to show leadership, take responsibility and push for ambitious outcomes at this COP in the negotiations in the next two weeks," she said.

- 'Effective participant' -

Podesta, who only took the job earlier this year, kicked off his visit Monday by seeking to reassure countries that work to contain climate change would continue in the US, even if Trump puts the issue on the "back burner".

On Tuesday, he co-headlined a summit on methane alongside his Chinese counterpart and the COP29 president during which he announced that oil and gas companies would be charged a fee for methane emissions in the US.

For his part, Ali Zaidi, Biden's climate adviser, said Tuesday that he has been pointing out "what we witnessed between 2017 and 2021" -- Trump's first term.

Trump was unable to roll back former president Barack Obama's solar and wind tax credits, while multilateral development banks continued to ramp up their capacity on climate finance, he said.

He added that developed countries were still able to meet a target of providing $100 billion in annual climate aid to poorer countries in 2022, a year after Trump left office. (That was two years later than promised, however).

"My big picture view on climate finance is (that) we've seen not just the US, but other countries zig and zag over the course of... COPS," Zaidi said.

"There's been a benefit in setting ambitious targets far out."

Ramping up climate finance is at the heart of the negotiations in Baku, with some nations pushing for the aid to be increased tenfold to $1 trillion per year.

"I think we will be an effective participant in a conversation that should conclude successfully over the course of the next two weeks," Zaidi said.

- 'Don't hide behind US election' -

A veteran negotiator from an African country told AFP that it appears that US negotiators might be making modest demands in the hope that the next administration would not object to the outcome of COP29.

Cleetus said other countries should put pressure on the US during the talks.

"Countries should not hide behind the US election outcome not to do the right thing, because everybody knows what's needed right now to secure our climate goals," she said.

Germany's climate negotiator, Jennifer Morgan, said she saw "strong determination" from countries to work together despite the US election's outcome.

"The mood here is a very determined mood to move forward in implementing and accelerating the energy transformation that we decided last year (at COP28 in Dubai) and in getting an ambitious and fair climate finance outcome," she told AFP.

(K.Müller--BBZ)