The United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan, and Brazil, former and future hosts of UN climate summits, are uniting to advocate for an international agreement limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
The UAE’s Conference of the Parties (COP28) presidency announced the formation of a “troika” to ensure more ambitious CO2-cutting pledges before the COP30 summit in 2025 in Belem, Brazil. Azerbaijan will host this year’s United Nations climate event in November.
Sultan Al Jaber, the Emirati president of last year’s negotiations, emphasized, “We cannot afford to lose momentum; we must do everything we can to keep 1.5°C within reach.”
In 2015, almost 200 governments signed the Paris climate agreement, aiming to phase out fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy and cap global warming at 1.5°C.
The 1.5°C target is slipping out of reach as global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, making the next round of countries’ climate targets crucial to prevent exceeding the limit.
The troika partnership aims to “significantly enhance international cooperation and the international enabling environment to stimulate ambition in the next round of nationally determined contributions,” as per the final agreement at COP28.
Recent reports revealed global warming exceeding 1.5°C over a 12-month period for the first time, described as a “warning to humanity” by scientists, with storms, droughts, and fires marking 2023 as the planet’s hottest year on record.
“The troika helps ensure collaboration and continuity required to keep the North Star of 1.5°C in sight – from Baku to Belem and beyond,” stated Al Jaber.
Considering current climate pledges, the world is still projected to warm between 2.5 and 2.9 degrees Celsius over this century, according to UN estimates. The 1.5°C limit may be reached between 2030 and 2035, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Despite the agreement at COP28 to “transition away” from fossil fuels, there was no progress on unblocking financial flows to developing countries, a significant issue set to be central in COP29 in Baku. Developed countries, about two years late on their initial $100 billion annual climate funding pledge by 2022, face pressure to address this financial gap.
The UN’s high-level expert group on climate finance highlighted in 2022 that developing nations, excluding China, need to spend approximately $2.4 trillion annually on clean energy and climate resilience by 2030 – four times current levels.
COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s minister of ecology and natural resources, expressed commitment to leveraging their role as a bridge builder between the developed and developing world. He emphasized the need to establish a new climate finance goal reflecting the scale and urgency of the climate challenge