BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 9. Solutions to
combat climate change exist, and the challenge now is to accelerate
their implementation, identify the obstacles to action, and find
practical ways to overcome them, Senior Director of the Programmes
Coordination at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), Daniele Violetti, said during the official opening
ceremony of the 4th Climate Week in Baku, Trend's correspondent
reports from the event.
He noted that the UN climate process is currently at a stage of
significant progress.
"The COP29 presidency presented the new Collectively Quantified
Climate Finance Target (NCQG) and finalized the rules for
international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris
Agreement. These decisions will open up new financial flows for
developing countries and allow them to achieve their emission
reduction targets more efficiently," Violetti pointed out.
The UNFCCC official stressed the importance of coming together
again for Climate Week in Baku and thanked Azerbaijan for its
hospitality.
"We thank Azerbaijan for its warm hospitality and its continued
commitment to rally the world around practical climate solutions,"
he said.
Violetti noted that the midpoint of Climate Week has already
been reached and various discussions, including the Presidency
Guidelines on the "Road to Antalya", are ongoing.
According to him, climate negotiations and the global climate
action agenda are separate but parallel processes.
"They complement each other: the negotiations provide the
international framework that allows for action, while the action
agenda strengthens the implementation of these decisions through
practical and scalable solutions. This week is where that
complementarity comes into play," Violetti emphasized.
He said that the implementation labs held within the framework
of Climate Week are discussing the issues of attracting climate
finance for agriculture, decarbonizing the heavy industry and
construction sectors, as well as making risky projects more
attractive and scalable for investment.
"Our task now is to accelerate such implementation, identify the
reasons that hinder action and find practical ways to remove these
obstacles," he said.
Violetti noted that governments cannot carry out this process
alone.
"Business, the financial sector, cities and civil society are
important partners in this process," the UNFCCC official
emphasized.
He said that the targets set for the main directions of the
global climate action agenda form the basis of future climate
action.
"The incoming Turkish presidency of COP31, in close cooperation
with the Australian presidency of the COP31 negotiations, has
identified key targets that will unite everyone," Violetti
said.
According to him, these targets include increasing the share of
electricity in final energy demand to 35% by 2035, halving the
growth of global emissions, and reducing the energy intensity of
the construction sector by 25%.
Violetti noted that sessions on electrification, the circular
economy and climate-positive buildings held during Baku Climate
Week are helping to shape action in this direction.
“We saw how this connection works at the last Climate Week in
Incheon. Real-world solutions are now available on the Climate Week
website for all to benefit from,” he added.
The UNFCCC official said that, along with the results emerging
in Baku, these experiences show that implementation is moving
forward.
“However, we need to step up the pace and scale up our ambition.
Let us focus in the coming days on connections that lead to
concrete results, partnerships that mobilize investments and
translate parties’ NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) and
NAPs (National Adaptation Plans) into tangible results,” Violetti
urged.
He added that this dynamic should continue from Fiji to the
Pre-COP meetings in Tuvalu and until COP31 in Antalya, where the
second Global Stocktaking will officially begin.
"Let's connect our process to the real economy and fully align
it with the goals of the Paris Agreement," stressed Violetti.
