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COP29 has opened with pledges for increased climate funding from global banks and renewed calls for urgent action. Developing nations seek stronger commitments from wealthy countries to combat climate change impacts, as Indigenous leaders push for representation in future climate decisions.
BAKU, Nov 13 (Reuters) - COP29 negotiators welcomed a pledge by major development banks to lift funding to poor and middle-income countries struggling with global warming as an early boost to the two-week summit.
A group of lenders, including the World Bank, announced on Tuesday a joint goal of increasing this finance to $120 billion by 2030, a roughly 60% increase on the amount in 2023.
"I think it's a very good sign," Irish Climate Minister Eamon Ryan told Reuters on Wednesday.
"It's very helpful. But that on its own won't be enough", Ryan said, adding countries and companies must also contribute.
China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said on Tuesday that Beijing has already mobilized around $24.5 billion to help developing countries address climate change.
Ryan's view was echoed by Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation who welcomed the announcement as "a shot in the arm for the climate finance discussion."
"But there is so much more work ahead," he added.
The chief aim of the conference in Azerbaijan is to secure a wide-ranging international climate financing agreement that ensures up to trillions of dollars for climate projects.
Developing countries are hoping for big commitments from rich, industrialized nations that are the biggest historical contributors to global warming, and some of which are also huge producers of fossil fuels.
"Developed countries have not only neglected their historical duty to reduce emissions, they are doubling down on fossil-fuel-driven growth," said climate activist Harjeet Singh.
Wealthy countries pledged in 2009 to contribute $100 billion a year to help developing nations transition to clean energy and adapt to the conditions of a warming world.
But those payments were only fully met in 2022 and the pledge expires this year.
'GET IT DONE'
Hopes for a strong deal have been dimmed by Donald Trump's U.S. election win. The President-elect has promised to again withdraw the U.S. from international climate cooperation.
The United States is already the world's largest oil and gas producer and Trump has vowed to maximize output.
Officials representing President Joe Biden's outgoing administration at COP29 have said China and the European Union may need to pick up the slack if Washington cedes leadership.
"We have a clear choice between a safer, cleaner, fairer future and a dirtier, more dangerous, and more expensive one. We know what to do. Let's get to work. Let's get it done," U.S. climate envoy John Podesta told the conference.
With 2024 on track to be the hottest year on record, scientists say global warming and its impacts are unfolding faster than expected.
Climate-fuelled wildfires forced evacuations in California and triggered air quality warnings in New York. In Spain, survivors are coming to terms with the worst floods in the country's modern history.
Indigenous leaders from Brazil, Australia, the Pacific and Eastern Europe said on Wednesday they intend to work together to ensure indigenous people have a say in future climate decisions.
The group said it was pushing for an indigenous co-presidency at next year’s COP, which is meant to be held in Brazil’s Amazon, as well as at future COP conferences.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama told the conference he was concerned that the international process to address global warming, now decades old, was not moving swiftly enough.
"Life goes on with its old habits, and our speeches, filled with good words about fighting climate change, change nothing," Rama said.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
Australian researchers have created a groundbreaking “biological AI” platform that could revolutionise drug discovery by rapidly evolving molecules within mammalian cells.
Australian researchers have pioneered a low-cost and scalable plasma-based method to produce ammonia gas directly from air, offering a green alternative to the traditional fossil fuel-dependent Haber-Bosch process.
A series of earthquakes have struck Guatemala on Tuesday afternoon, leading authorities to advise residents to evacuate from buildings as a precaution against possible aftershocks.
'Superman' continued to dominate the summer box office, pulling in another $57.25 million in its second weekend, as theatres welcome a wave of blockbuster competition following a challenging few years for the film industry.
Firefighters in Greece are battling wildfires near Athens and on several islands as the country swelters under its third heatwave of the summer. Villages have been evacuated as flames spread through dry terrain, fanned by strong winds and record temperatures.
As Greece swelters under an intense heat wave, electricity demand and wholesale prices have soared to record highs, straining the national grid and pushing infrastructure to its limits.
From Hawaii’s fiery lava fountains to Italy’s ash-filled skies, it may feel like volcanoes are erupting everywhere in 2025. With nearly 50 eruptions already this year, many are asking, is the Earth getting more active? The truth is far less alarming, and far more fascinating.
Greece’s fir forests are vanishing as climate change fuels extreme heat, prolonged drought, and pest outbreaks, leaving once-lush mountains scarred by dying trees.
Storms and rising seas are washing away Barcelona’s man-made beaches, putting tourism and coastal life at risk, according to residents in the area. In Montgat, locals say their summers by the sea are vanishing.
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