The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, was asked what message he would like to leave to the president of the United States, a country without a delegation at the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30). He just replied: “We are waiting for you.”
Guterres also said it was not the time to talk about a possible defeat at COP30, when asked about obstacles in the progress of negotiations. Another message from him, at a press conference, was to reinforce the importance of presenting Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by countries that have not yet announced their new goals.
Until the last update, 118 NDCs had been delivered. Currently, 198 countries participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), making it one of the largest multilateral bodies in the United Nations (UN) system.
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On another topic, the Secretary-General of the United Nations recently reinforced that moving away from fossil fuels is a “necessity”, repeating the multilaterally established language on the energy transition process. He also expressed support for defining how this process will take place:
“I welcome the calls for a just transition mechanism and the growing coalition calling for clarity on the transition away from fossil fuels. And I urge countries to ensure that the Belém outcome operationalizes a just transition that is aligned with a world with warming limited to 1.5 degrees,” he declared.
The speech is in line with the position of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. At the Leaders’ Summit, which preceded the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30), Lula defended overcoming dependence on fossil fuels and, since then, a possible “Lula plan” for this objective has been speculated in the corridors.
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At COP28, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, an agreement was reached that proposed for the first time the “transition towards the end of fossil fuels”. The “how to do it” or the definition of the “road map” is what is still pending. The topic divides the delegations and, if there is progress, it will be considered one of the victories of the Conference in Belém (PA).
As for a concrete path to transition away from fossils, Guterres highlighted that a “credible path to achieving Baku’s financial goal” is needed. He refers to the need to invest US$1.3 trillion in solutions to climate change, defined at COP29 in the capital of Azerbaijan.
“All developed countries mobilizing at least US$300 billion per year by 2035 and charting a route to reach US$1.3 trillion per year by 2035,” said Guterres.
