Science and Technology Desk: Developed countries have promised to give at least 300 billion dollars in annual aid to climate affected countries to combat climate change. It is considered as the biggest success of this year's conference. After two weeks of negotiations, delegations at COP-29 agreed on this annual allocation.
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This decision was taken at the United Nations Climate Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. In addition, an overall target of at least $1.3 trillion in climate finance has been set by 2035 .
The conference was supposed to end on November 22. But the conference took an extra 33 hours to finish due to arguments over climate finance. That is why the last conference ended on November 24.
Earlier, at the 2009 summit, a pledge of $100 billion per year was made. This contract will end this year. Therefore, according to the new agreement, climate-affected countries will receive a grant of $300 from next year.
Participating countries ratified the agreement on November 24 after making some changes to the agreement. The member states then welcomed the agreement with cheers and applause. However, India reacted angrily to this agreement. Disappointment with the agreement remains among developing countries.
Countries such as Switzerland, the Maldives, Canada and Australia have complained that the deal's commitment to reducing fossil fuel use is too weak. A decision to reduce the use of fossil fuels has been postponed until the 2025 climate conference.
Welcoming the $300 billion deal, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, 'There needed to be an agreement at COP-29 to keep temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees.' But no such agreement was made. Apart from that, climate experts say that this year's temperature has gone up by more than 1.5 degrees since the industrial revolution. As a result, experts see this conference as a 'flawed compromise' between developed countries and countries vulnerable to climate change.
As I said earlier, this year's climate conference was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is entirely a fossil fuel exporter. Due to geopolitical reasons, this time they got the opportunity to organize the climate conference. The venue for COP-29 is a stadium near the host city of Baku.
The city authorities have rebuilt the accommodation of 20-3 million people in this city. The entire work was done with money from the sale of oil. Formula One Grand Prix is organized in this city every year. There the roads around the city are used as racetracks.
Near this stadium, oil is extracted from the oil extraction mine all the time. An oil refinery less than a mile away burns methane constantly. Methane is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases. Azerbaijan produces oil continuously from numerous oil fields along the shores of the Caspian Sea. All climate activists including Greta Thunberg have strongly criticized the decision to hold the World Climate Conference in such a country. In a recent speech, Greta said it was a 'greenwash conference'.
A big challenge for this year's conference is that this year is almost certainly going to be (since the year isn't over yet) the hottest year yet. The world has been hit by extreme heat waves and deadly storms. Last year was also the hottest year in a million years.
Experts are almost certain that this record will be broken in 2024. Because, currently, greenhouse gas levels are at record levels. Sea level has risen over the past year. The rate of melting of glaciers is also alarming. Extreme weather events around the world have resulted in significant loss of life.
The topic discussed on the opening day of this year's conference was the return of the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump. Trump is skeptical of climate change. He said that the United States will withdraw from the historic Paris Agreement of 2015. At the Paris conference, countries created a roadmap to combat climate change.
If the US withdraws from this agreement or roadmap, it will become a big problem. Developed countries are well aware that President Trump will not pay a dime to the Climate Fund. As a result, the deficit that will be created, the developed countries will have to fill it. This will make it difficult to meet the $300 billion target.
As always, the climate activists protested at the climate summit. They demanded to end the use of fossil fuels. However, this time there is no good news regarding the agreement to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Hopefully, the matter will be important in next year's conference.
291 students are permanently involved in traffic control!
In 2025, the city of Belém in Brazil will host the Cop-30. Countries are optimistic about this conference. Because Brazilian President Lula da Silva made a strong commitment to combat climate change. He is working to reduce deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.