After COP29 impasse, all eyes on Rio G20 meet
BAKU: As ministers take over at the climate talks in the Azerbaijani capital, all eyes are on Rio, where the leaders of the G20 are meeting. The first week of the UN climate summit closed with the scheduled assembly late on Saturday night that lasted a little over three hours, ending at around half hour past midnight. The divergences among countries on important issues, such as finance and the path forward on the outcomes of last year's global stock take, and the absence of trust became apparent as countries took the floor to air their views.
On some issues such as loss and damage and adaptation, and mitigation work programme the absence of trust and compromise among countries was such that «Rule 16» was invoked. Rule 16 refers to a provision which is used when countries can't even agree to produce an outcome that puts on record the discussions and divergent views. As a result, countries will have to begin their discussions all over again when they meet in Bonn in the summer.
The lack of trust most evident on the issue of how countries propose to address and implement the decisions on emission reduction and energy transition agreed to in Dubai and the lack of any real progress on making available climate finance to developing countries.
Bolivia, speaking at Saturday night's plenary on behalf of the Like Minded Group of Developing Countries (LMDC), a group of 20-odd countries including India, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, expressed its disappointment. «We have been termed blockers in the mitigation room. It is
