Azerbaijan: World climate conference COP29 begins in Baku

Starting on Monday, almost 200 countries will discuss how to curb global warming and mitigate its fatal consequences, such as more frequent heat waves, storms or floods, at the UN climate conference in Azerbaijan. The focus of the two-week consultations in Baku is also on new financial commitments to poor countries: developing states and environmental organizations expect the rich industrialized countries to mobilize at least one trillion US dollars annually – ten times more than the currently promised 100 billion per year. To finance it, climate activists are proposing wealth taxes on the rich or levies on the production of coal, oil and gas.

Tens of thousands of government representatives, journalists, activists and political lobbyists are expected in the authoritarian former Soviet republic, where freedom of the press and freedom of expression are severely restricted. After the first plenary session on Monday in the area around the Olympic Stadium in Baku, speeches from dozens of heads of state and government will follow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) canceled his trip to the climate conference after his traffic light government ended.

Non-governmental organizations fear that the COP29 climate conference will be overshadowed by the election of Donald Trump as US President. After his first election victory in 2016, Trump ordered the United States to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. At the weekend, the New York Times reported that Trump not only wanted to withdraw from the Paris Agreement again this time, but also wanted to move the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) away from Washington and reduce the size of nature reserves in order to clear the way for oil drilling and coal mining.