COP29 Midpoint: Climate finance negotiations stalled and the EU is not helping, European fossil fuel lobby numerous in Baku

Baku, 18 November 2024 — As the second week of COP29 kicks off, the climate finance negotiations are stuck moving at a snail’s pace. The EU is doing little to put forward concrete proposals that could take things forward, such as the amount of money they would be ready to provide to developing countries’ climate action. Additionally, the presence of the fossil fuel lobby in Baku is undeniable, with one in ten participating through European country delegations or business associations. Chiara Martinelli, Director at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, said: “The first week of COP29 was characterised by weak climate leadership, too slow processes, too long texts and simply too far from an outcome that would have the scale to deliver global climate justice. Arriving EU ministers must bring in concrete political solutions that unblock the process, first and foremost by ensuring the new financial goal based on public financing meets the needs of the most climate-vulnerable communities, who pay the highest costs of the climate crisis. If EU leaders are serious about their commitment to no regression on the European Green Deal, we expect them to champion the international stage with concrete steps towards ambitious climate action, a path to a full, fair, and funded phase-out of all fossil fuels” Further quotes from CAN Europe member organisations on the COP29 midpoint are available here. Climate finance negotiations stalled — and the EU is not helping Even before COP29, there was a wide gapbetween developed and developing nations on the scale and financing sources of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). In Baku, the gap has been growing even wider. The EU has yet to be seen to help close this gap, despite trying to portray itself as a climate leader and a bridge builder on the world stage. Developed nations, including the EU, continue to push back on the call for financing the NCQG through public grants, ensuring sufficient resources for the most vulnerable, and instead indicating that the largest portion of climate finance should come as loans and private sector investments. This is despite the fact that this approach has proved insufficient in the past, leaving the most climate-vulnerable countries, many already debt-ridden, without adequate means to mitigate and adapt to the climate crises. Emilia Runeberg, Climate and Development Policy Coordinator at CAN Europe, said: “The EU prides itself as the largest provider of international climate finance and doing their fair share towards vulnerable countries. In the negotiation rooms, we see a very different EU. The EU continues objecting the new climate finance goal to include clear sub-goals for funding adaptation and loss and damage. Such sub-goals would help to ensure that public finance goes to those most in need and that the newly created Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage would actually be capitalised instead of remaining an empty shell.” European fossil fuel lobby strong in Baku Research conducted by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition revealed that a staggering number of 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to COP29. At least 181 of them got their COP29 badges via official delegations of European countries and business associations, 10 per cent of the total number. The biggest European offenders, who awarded badges to lobbyists through the ‘party overflow’ system, come from Greece (24), Italy (22), the UK (20), Sweden (17) and Belgium (13). Both BusinessEurope and the Federation of German Industries brought 13 fossil fuel lobbyists to Baku, bringing them to the global top ten biggest trade associations representing the fossil fuel industry at COP29. Following pressure from the Fossil Free Politics campaign, CAN Europe, and more than 100 civil society organisations, the European Commission delegation did not bring any fossil fuel lobbyists as part of their delegation to Baku. This should be applauded. Finance cannot be positioned in opposition to mitigation The climate finance negotiations do not stand alone in the realm of slow-moving progress at COP29. At the end of the first week, the climate mitigation negotiations were halted but on Monday, the Plenary brought it back alive by starting a new consultation round on what the mitigation outcome could look like. Martinelli said: “While COP29 is the finance COP and the parties need to deliver on that, finance cannot be positioned in opposition to mitigation. Both are intrinsically linked: finance must support mitigation efforts, and mitigation is necessary for finance to achieve its objectives. This principle is fundamental to the Paris Agreement, and it is what we’re here to uphold. We cannot leave this COP without a step forward from last year’s historical decision to transition out from fossil fuels.” ENDS Notes to editors:

Further quotes from CAN Europe members on the COP29 midpoint are available here.
Anonymised data on the fossil fuel lobby present in Baku is available upon request. More on the methodology of the fossil fuel lobby research by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition can be found here.

For more information and media requests: Tomas Spragg Nilsson, tomas.spraggnilsson@caneurope.org / +46 707 65 63 92 Jani Savolainen, jani.savolainen@caneurope.org / +358 504667831