(VOVWORLD) - The 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) opened Monday in the capital Baku of Azerbaijan and will run through November 22.
Involving more than 51,000 participants, COP29 takes place as the world is suffering from serious impacts of climate change.
A report released on Sunday by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), an organization with 100,000 member companies in 130 countries, shows that extreme weather events have caused the world to lose 2 trillion USD over the past decade, of which the loss in the last two years alone had reached 450 billion USD.
COP29’s major topic is climate finance, where countries will set a new climate finance goal to support poor countries' response to climate change.
According to UN data, developing countries are suffering from a large inequality in climate finance, with 4 of every 5 USD invested in clean energy going to developed countries and China.
Selwin Charles Hart, Special Adviser and Assistant to the UN Secretary-General for Climate Action, said “If we continue at this rate, the climate crisis will definitely exacerbate inequalities between countries and within countries. COP29 represents an important milestone in our fight against the climate crisis. It’s a COP where the main negotiating outcome will be a new goal on a new climate finance goal.”
COP29 participants will discuss a new mechanism called “New Collective Quantitative Targets” (NCQG) to replace the commitment of the 100 billion USD climate finance target from developed countries, which will expire at the end of this year.