COP29 summit

Haggling over billions at the climate summit

A participant sits on a sign for the UN climate conference in Baku.

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Things got heated at the extended UN meeting in Azerbaijan - against all expectations, an agreement was reached at the end: The donor states commit to providing 300 billion dollars by 2035.

The atmosphere at the conference center in the Azerbaijani capital on Saturday night was one of doomsday. The majority of the 20,000 delegates who had jetted off to the Caucasus had already left. There was an eerie emptiness of people. However, there was increasingly loud arguing in the negotiating rooms. Finally, dozens of representatives from the most affected island states stormed out of the negotiations in a rage. Nobody was listening to their concerns.

The decision to phase out fossil fuels in Dubai in 2023 was completely pushed into the background. Despite all 28 previous UN summits, the emissions caused by this have exploded worldwide. "The COPs are a spectacle that achieve nothing," railed German climate researcher Mojib Latif in view of the stagnation. Only in the 27 EU member states have climate-killing net gas emissions fallen and are now 37 percent lower than in 1990.

"Krone" environmental editor Perry (left) met UN General Guterres at the COP and wished him "good luck". The latter was determined to make the meeting a success.

(Bild: privat)

"Insultingly low" offer
However, this played no role in the heated phase of the extended summit! Until the very end, the developing countries had indignantly rejected even a 250 billion dollar offer from the rich industrialized countries to mitigate climate damage as "insultingly low".

The fact that India, China and Brazil have the status of developing countries and are not being asked to pay as donor states also caused outrage.

Gewessler fought until the last minute
Despite her last appearance as a minister at a COP, Leonore Gewessler fought until the last minute to prevent the summit from failing completely. Late in the evening, the EU still doubted the success of the summit and insisted on a clear commitment to the agreed reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke bluntly of a power play by states with fossil fuel interests, including the Azerbaijani presidency.