bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Host Azerbaijan tried to bring down the diplomatic temperature in Baku on Thursday after a French minister cancelled her trip to the UN climate talks and Argentina withdrew its delegation.
While negotiators work behind closed doors at the Cop29 talks to thrash out a climate finance deal, the spotlight has been largely stolen by diplomatic turmoil.
France’s Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Wednesday she would not travel to Baku after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev accused Paris of colonial “crimes” and “human rights violations” in its overseas territories.
Pannier-Runacher called his speech “unacceptable … and beneath the dignity of the presidency of the Cop”.
Attempting to calm the waters on Thursday, Cop29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev insisted that Azerbaijan had fostered “an inclusive process”.
“We have opened our doors to everybody to come to engage in very constructive, fruitful discussions,” he told reporters. “Our doors are still open.”

Relations between Paris and Baku have long been tense over France’s support for Azerbaijan’s arch-rival Armenia.
Azerbaijan defeated Armenia in a lightning offensive last year when it retook the breakaway Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh – leading to an exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians.
Aliyev has hailed the victory in remarks to delegates and also raised eyebrows by insisting natural resources including carbon-emitting fossil fuels were a “gift from God”.
The EU’s climate commissioner said the climate talks “should be a place where all parties feel at liberty to come and negotiate”.
“The COP Presidency has a particular responsibility to enable and enhance that,” Wopke Hoekstra posted on social media.
Compounding the diplomatic turmoil, Argentina’s delegation was abruptly pulled from the talks.
An environment ministry source confirmed the departure but declined to offer more detail.
Argentina’s anti-establishment President Javier Milei has made no secret of his scepticism of climate change and is an ally of newly re-elected former US president Donald Trump.

While Argentina’s delegation was small, its departure “is unprecedented in the country’s diplomatic history”, said Oscar Soria, an Argentine environmental activist and director of the Common Initiative.
Rafiyev declined to be drawn on the departure.
“We hope that all who are attending here have only one intention, to come to join us in this collective effort to get an outcome that is positive,” he said.
But progress on the key goal of the talks – a new climate finance deal – is proving grindingly slow.
The main fault line is clear: how much should developed countries pay to help poorer nations adapt to climate change and transition away from fossil fuels.
Rich nations are reluctant to increase the US$100 billion a year already committed, conscious of domestic publics angry about inflation and stuttering economies.
But developing countries warn they need at least US$1 trillion to defend against the ravages of climate change and meet commitments to reach net-zero emissions.
Sources described ongoing discussions as difficult, with negotiators struggling to wrestle a draft text into a reasonable form before ministers arrive in a few days to start nailing down a deal.
The EU’s lead negotiator Jacob Werksman said he was “very worried” about the slow process. “We are way off a landing ground.”


Hanging over proceedings is the question of what role the United States will play on climate action and funding after Trump returns to the White House in January.
He has pledged to again withdraw from the landmark Paris agreement, raising questions about what US negotiators can deliver in Baku.
“I think it’s fair to say that there’s some uncertainty in the next administration,” conceded Jake Levine, the White House’s senior director for climate and energy.
But the need to “project American values” would be a powerful driver for continued climate funding and action, he added.
“We cannot cede the playing field to China, to our competitors … So I think that you will see a continued American presence.”


China’s ties with Global South show a different world order is possible

The new aerial radar penetrating the icy depths of China’s glaciers

Harbin river ice cutters feel the heat as warm autumn affects their bottom line

Temperatures in Hong Kong to drop to 12 degrees Celsius on Sunday

Climate change

Cop29 host tries to calm waters after diplomatic turmoil

Attendees arrive for the Cop29 UN climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday. Photo: AP

French Minister for Ecological Transition, Energy, Climate and Risk Prevention Agnes Pannier-Runacher leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on November 6. Photo: AFP

Argentina’s President Javier Milei gestures during a rally in Buenos Aires in September. Photo: Reuters

Cop29 host Azerbaijan hits out at West in defence of oil and gas

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev speaks at the opening ceremony of the United Nations climate change conference Cop9 in Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres at Cop29 in Baku on Tuesday. Photo: Cop29 via dpa

World leaders and UN officials at the climate summit. Photo: AP

A woman walks past the Cop29 logo at the Baku Olympic Stadium on Monday. Photo: dpa

Southeast Asia’s energy transition hangs in balance at Cop29 amid uncertainty over Trump return

The flooded Red River in Hanoi in September, in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi hitting northern Vietnam. Photo: AFP

World leaders pose for a family photo at the UN Climate Change Conference Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Residents transport their motorbike through a flooded street in Chiang Mai. Super Typhoon Yagi disrupted the lives of more than 20 million people in Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. Photo: AFP

Cop29: Can China fill the climate void left by Trump’s return to ‘Drill, baby, drill’?

A woman walks past a logo of Cop29 in Baku Olympic Stadium, Azerbaijan. Photo: DPA

An oil refinery is silhouetted against the setting sun on September 28, 2024, in McPherson, Kansas. Photo: AP

News

World

The UN climate talks are in disarray after a French minister cancelled her trip and Argentina withdrew its delegation


The UN climate talks are in disarray after a French minister cancelled her trip and Argentina withdrew its delegation.
