UN Climate Summit COP29 begins in Azerbaijan without Prime Minister Schoof

baku - The 29th edition of the UN Climate Summit (COP) starts in Baku where global climate plans will be negotiated.

The 29th edition of the UN Climate Summit, known as COP, is commencing in Baku on Monday, where discussions will take place regarding the new global climate plans. Several international leaders are absent from the COP due to circumstances within their own ranks.

The Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra will replace Von der Leyen on Tuesday at the COP. This year, the focus at the climate summit in Azerbaijan will be primarily on money. Countries need to agree on an annual amount that will go to poor and vulnerable countries to help them mitigate climate change and its consequences.

Currently, the agreement is for rich countries to give $100 billion annually to poor countries for climate financing. Poor countries and climate organizations are advocating for a significant increase in this amount, up to 1 trillion euros. However, Western countries are not yet ready to make commitments. They want more countries to contribute.

Furthermore, discussions at the summit will also cover how to further reduce CO2 emissions and national climate plans. The UN climate organization UNFCCC stated in late October that countries' climate plans are woefully inadequate to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius as agreed upon in the 2015 Paris climate summit. Countries are expected to submit new plans by early 2025.

Representing the Dutch cabinet, climate minister Sophie Hermans will be in Baku next week for the negotiations. Climate envoy Jaime de Bourbon de Parme will replace Schoof to the extent possible.

The decision to hold the climate summit in Azerbaijan has raised controversy. Besides the country's significant oil and gas production, its own climate policies are severely lacking. Furthermore, freedom of speech in the country is under threat, with dozens of journalists detained without clear reasons. Azerbaijan has also been engaged in a longstanding conflict against neighboring Armenia and took control of the border region of Nagorno-Karabakh in September last year, leading to the mass exodus of almost the entire Armenian population from that area.