Global warming: Climate summit opens – “Don’t leave Baku without results”

The United Nations World Climate Conference has begun in Azerbaijan. UN climate chief Simon Stiell warned at the opening: “We cannot leave Baku without a sensible result.”

The focus of the two-week conference in the authoritarian ex-Soviet republic is new financial commitments to poor countries. Developing states and environmental organizations expect industrialized nations to mobilize at least $1 trillion annually – ten times more than the $100 billion per year currently pledged.

“We should abandon the idea that climate finance is a handout,” said Stiell. “An ambitious new climate finance target is entirely in the self-interest of every nation, including the largest and richest.”

Almost 200 countries are discussing how to curb global warming and mitigate its fatal consequences in Azerbaijan. The conference’s negotiations could sometimes feel far removed from concrete victims of the climate crisis, Stiell said. “But we know that this process works. Without it, humanity would be heading for five degrees of global warming.”

According to United Nations calculations, the world is currently heading for 2.6 to 3.1 degrees of warming compared to pre-industrial times – which would make significant parts of the earth uninhabitable. The agreed goal is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.

This year the planet warmed up by more than 1.5 degrees for the first time. However, the 1.5 degree target is not yet considered to have been missed, as longer-term average values ​​are decisive for this.

Azerbaijani Environment Minister Mukhtar Babayev was elected conference president by acclamation of the plenum. The personnel had caused irritation because he had previously worked for the state oil company Socar for more than 20 years. He promised the plenary session to strive for ambitious resolutions. The current climate policy is leading humanity “to ruin”. “People are already suffering in the shadows and dying in the dark.”