Switzerland to rally support for climate finance target at COP29

The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan runs until November 22. Keystone-SDA

Switzerland will encourage other countries to back a new collective financial target for investments in global climate protection at the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan.

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A key goal for Switzerland at COP29, which started on Monday, is to increase the number of donor countries for investments in global climate protection. All countries should contribute “according to their means”, especially “wealthy countries with high greenhouse gas emissions”.

This was announced by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) ahead of the conference. It is no longer just industrialised countries that should pay, but also countries such as China and Saudi Arabia, the FOEN specified on request.

At the 2015 climate conference in Paris, it was agreed that industrialised countries would provide $100 billion ($87 billion) annually by 2025 for climate protection measures in developing countries. According to the FOEN, this target was reached for the first time in 2022. Switzerland mobilised over CHF700 million for climate financing in 2022.

The non-governmental organisations Alliance Sud and WWF recently called for $1 trillion per year to be made available for climate protection in the countries in the Global South. Switzerland has not commented on this demand, as the FOEN said on enquiry.

The states have yet to agree on the structure and level of the target as well as the sources of funding. There is also still disagreement as to which countries should be among the donors, said the FOEN.

Market mechanisms

In Baku, countries will also discuss rules for the implementation of a global market mechanism. As the Swiss government recently announced, this mechanism would allow countries to implement climate protection projects abroad and have the emission reductions achieved counted towards their climate target.

Furthermore, countries will also prepare new climate targets for the period up to 2035. They must be submitted by 2025. According to the federal government, the question of how the countries will implement the recommendations from last year’s climate conference, namely the expansion of renewable energies and the move away from coal, oil and gas, is at the centre of this.

Environment minister travels to Baku

The Swiss negotiating delegation is travelling to the Azerbaijani capital Baku under the leadership of the ambassador for the environment, Felix Wertli, head of the FOEN’s International Affairs Division. The delegation also includes representatives of civil society from business and environmental circles. Wertli already led the Swiss delegation at last year’s climate conference in Dubai.

Swiss environment minister Albert Rösti intends to attend COP29 in the second week of the conference, as has been known since September. The conference is scheduled to run until November 22.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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