Egypt's Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad, in her capacity as facilitator of climate finance negotiations, began informal consultations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance with ministers from developed and developing countries, during the informal ministerial session moderated by Mukhtar Babayev, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan and President of COP29. This came within the activities of the Climate Week held on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York during the period from 22 to 29 September, in the presence of Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the head of the Australian delegation on behalf of the Australian Minister of Energy and Climate.
The Minister of Environment stressed that the dialogue aims to raise awareness among ministers and create favourable conditions for enhancing political participation in the new collective quantitative target for climate finance before COP29 in Azerbaijan, as well as to enhance ambition and accelerate work on the first global stocktaking process and the next round of nationally determined contributions due in 2025.
Fouad added that the ministers are expected to present ideas and solutions during the session on how to bridge the gaps to achieve a successful outcome in Baku, and that the dialogue will contribute to increasing ambition and accelerating work to develop scenarios for more political participation.
Fouad explained that agreeing on a new, fair and ambitious collective quantitative target that takes into account the needs and priorities of developing countries is the first negotiating priority for the COP29. She noted that the multilateral system is under pressure to demonstrate its ability to achieve results at the required speed and scale, adding that COP29 will be a decisive test for the Paris Agreement and global climate action and cooperation on a large scale.
The Minister of Environment indicated that it is expected that the parties will make significant progress towards this goal and will participate in developing the objective framework for a draft negotiating text that includes the progress achieved, stressing the need for progress on the technical and political tracks.
