Talks about a $1 trillion a year fund to fight climate change are fractured over the issue of who will pay, as rising economies such as China, Brazil and India resist pressure to split the bill, The National has been told. One negotiator described a “series of deadlocks” at the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan, with poorer countries at odds over whether to accept proposals from the US and Europe to pass the collection bucket beyond the developed world.
Almost 200 countries taking part in the talks have days left to agree on the terms of the vast financial pledge to pay for green policies to curb global warming at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and fund disaster preparation and recovery where it is too late. Suggestions include billing the world's top historical polluters, which could put China and Russia on the hook, linking contributions to a level of income that could bring in Middle East states, or asking for payments from a less defined group such as "countries in a position to do so".
Week one at Cop – what you need to know
The proposals to divide the bill would favour small island states and the world's least-developed nations, but have so far not been accepted by a large group of small and medium-sized economies called the G77 plus China. Uganda's top negotiator, Bob Natifu, said there had been "a series of deadlocks, even within the G77" amid fears of damaging the interests of the powerful group.
"Our vulnerability is far different from the vulnerability of Kenya, the vulnerability of China, the vulnerability of India", he told The National. Mr Natifu said he did not see the rich world relenting on its view that private investors should play a key role. "I don’t know how it’s going to be navigated, because when you look at the discussions, developed versus developing, you see very clear fractures and very clear red lines," he said.
Current donors
Existing UN treaties ask developed countries to fund the climate fight. A list of 24 donors drawn up in 1992 includes the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan; the EU and its then-members Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Spain and Portugal; and non-members or later joiners Austria, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. In 2009 they agreed to arrange $100 billion a year by 2020, a deadline they missed. Cop29 is negotiating what comes next.
The US and Europe say a rethink of the donor base is overdue. Jake Levine, a special assistant to US President Joe Biden taking part in Cop29, said that when the magnitude of the challenge is considered "we do not see a future that doesn’t include everybody."
China told Cop29 it has arranged more than $24 billion for developing countries but is reluctant to be pinned down by UN rules, saying previous texts "should be upheld". Kenya called it a "divisive discussion", while India said the Paris Agreement “is clear on who is to provide and mobilise the climate finance – it is the developed countries”. Brazil's Climate Secretary told The National it was up to the rich world to pay.
On the table
Draft texts show little progress in narrowing down options. One would call the new pledge "the sole obligation of developed countries", while another would seek funds "from all sources, public and private".
In one proposal, countries would pay if they have a per capita income above $52,000, which would include the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. The UAE last year pledged $100 million to a disaster fund set up at Cop28 and launched a $30 billion climate investment fund called Alterra.
A second proposed trigger would be emissions in the world's top 10 historically, which would bring in China and Russia. Other proposals would keep things vaguer by referring to "higher emitters" or "capable parties". Most proposals are for a sum of at least $1 trillion a year, and the EU's chief negotiator has acknowledged there are "trillion-dollar needs".
India raised the stakes by asking for $1.3 trillion a year, which one German official said was "certainly not achievable". The goal could be split into a smaller sum to be provided directly by governments, in the hope of spurring investors to make up the rest. The Arab Group has suggested a $441 billion base.
Many in Baku are wary of strings-attached private funds, but governments are stretched. “We all know there’s not enough public finance in the world to get to net zero,” said Chris Hayward, the chairman of the City of London Corporation, which governs the UK’s financial district.
He said investors need political certainty – something in short supply at Cop29 as the world braces for a second Donald Trump presidency – to release funds. "There's nothing that destabilises investment like inconsistency from politicians," he said, as he welcomed new targets set by the UK, the UAE and Brazil.
"If they can see a commitment to public finance, it gives much more confidence to the private sector finance as well to come on board," he said. "They would say, with some justification, if public finance isn't going to invest, why should we?"
Failure to reach a deal in Baku would mean a February deadline for countries to submit new climate plans arrives with their financial firepower still in doubt. By then, Mr Trump will be back in the White House. August Pfluger, a member of the US House of Representatives attending Cop29, said the incoming Republican-controlled Congress would "take a look" at any commitments that are "not in support of lowering energy costs while reducing emissions".
Mr Natifu said he was "cautiously optimistic" that Mr Trump would not quit the UN process altogether because of his closeness to electric car tycoon Elon Musk. "The trick would be, how do we try to engage people like Elon Musk, who are working closely with him?", he said. A total US withdrawal "would create a slump in the momentum that has already been created, and may not allow us to meet the targets that we've set ourselves to achieve."
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Results
2.15pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,950m
Winner: Hello, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihi (trainer).
2.45pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,800m
Winner: Right Flank, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh115,000 1,000m
Winner: Leading Spirit, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
3.45pm: Jebel Ali Mile Group 3 Dh575,000 1,600m
Winner: Chiefdom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,400m
Winner: Ode To Autumn, Patrick Cosgrave, Satish Seemar.
4.45pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh125,000 1,200m
Winner: Last Surprise, James Doyle, Simon Crisford.
5.15pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,200m
Winner: Daltrey, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihi.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (All UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)
Saturday
Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
FA Augsburg v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)
SC Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Monchengladbach (9.30pm)
Sunday
Cologne v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
Mainz v FC Schalke (9pm)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Wallabies
Updated team: 15-Israel Folau, 14-Dane Haylett-Petty, 13-Reece Hodge, 12-Matt Toomua, 11-Marika Koroibete, 10-Kurtley Beale, 9-Will Genia, 8-Pete Samu, 7-Michael Hooper (captain), 6-Lukhan Tui, 5-Adam Coleman, 4-Rory Arnold, 3-Allan Alaalatoa, 2-Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1-Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16-Folau Faingaa, 17-Tom Robertson, 18-Taniela Tupou, 19-Izack Rodda, 20-Ned Hanigan, 21-Joe Powell, 22-Bernard Foley, 23-Jack Maddocks.
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ovo's tips to find extra heat
- Open your curtains when it’s sunny
- Keep your oven open after cooking
- Have a cuddle with pets and loved ones to help stay cosy
- Eat ginger but avoid chilli as it makes you sweat
- Put on extra layers
- Do a few star jumps
- Avoid alcohol
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
