Within the scope of the ongoing COP29 summit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, representatives of the party countries came together in the program “Before 2030 Goals: 2024 High Level Ministerial Round Table Meeting”. In addition to country representatives, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, COP29 President and Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Muhtar Babayev, IPCC President Jim Skea and UNFCCC officials attended the meeting.
Making the opening speech of the program, Babayev stated that half of the COP29 process has been completed and the next meetings are very important.
Stating that they addressed every aspect of the climate crisis at the summit, without losing the focus on the New Collective Quantified Target (NCQG), which is the main agenda item, Babayev said that many ambitious initiatives have been launched on emission reduction to support the energy transition.
Summarizing the developments at this point, Babayev said, “We have commitments and statements regarding storage networks, corridors and hydrogen.” he said.
Stating that they expanded the focus of COP28 on methane gas in COP29 and pointed out methane gas emissions from organic waste, Babayev said, “Food waste constitutes 10 percent of global emissions. We launched a declaration for countries to include organic waste in their indexes. USA, China, Azerbaijan Methane “We were pleased that during the summit many countries began to focus on organic waste in their national facilities.” he said.
Lives are at stake
Emphasizing that every stakeholder attending the meeting is important, Stiell said, “If there was a roundtable meeting with the collective power to take us in the right direction, this meeting would be it. If there was a moment when you should all be in the same room, ready to find a solution, this is it.” would be.” he said.
Referring to the results of the latest National Contribution Declaration (NDC) report, Stiell warned that current national climate plans do not go far enough and that the lives and livelihoods of billions of people are in danger.
Underlining that new NDC policies are needed to adequately combat the climate crisis, Stiell called for immediate action.
“If necessary measures are taken, many improvements can be seen by 2030.”
Making a presentation that included dangers and opportunities in the fight against the climate crisis, Skea said, “We are dangerously close to 1.5 degrees of warming, and this level may be exceeded, albeit temporarily, in 2024. If we continue like this, we can reach 3 degrees of warming this century.” shared his prediction.
Pointing out that the carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere increases the risks of global warming day by day, Skea stated that many improvements can be seen by 2030 if the necessary measures are taken.
Talking about the potentials in the energy sector in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Skea said:
“The biggest potential lies in renewable energy, particularly wind and solar, which each have the potential to reduce emissions by around 4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, or 7 percent of total emissions. The costs of both have fallen significantly in recent years. “Given that methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas, signing the Global Methane Commitment (GMP) can bring rapid results in terms of preventing warming in the near term.”
Skea listed other gains that can be achieved in the near future as well-established renewable energy technologies, nuclear energy for countries that prefer it, and carbon capture and storage technologies.
Noting that sustainable practices that will spread to all areas of life will support emission reduction efforts, Skea stated that these efforts will also contribute to human health.
Taking the floor in the last part of the meeting, country representatives exchanged information about the sustainable practices they implemented to combat the climate crisis and shared their expectations on various issues.
