Time Ticks Down at UN Climate Talks    11/20 06:01

   With time running down, negotiators at the United Nations annual climate 
talks on Wednesday returned to the puzzle of finding an agreement to bring far 
more money for vulnerable nations to adapt than wealthier countries have shown 
they're willing to pay.

   BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) -- With time running down, negotiators at the United 
Nations annual climate talks on Wednesday returned to the puzzle of finding an 
agreement to bring far more money for vulnerable nations to adapt than 
wealthier countries have shown they're willing to pay.

   Vulnerable nations are seeking $1.3 trillion to deal with damage from 
climate change and to adapt to that change, including building out their own 
clean-energy systems. Experts agree that at least $1 trillion is called for, 
but both figures are far more than the developed world has so far offered.

   Negotiators are fighting over three big parts of the issue: How big the 
numbers are, how much is grants or loans, and who contributes.

   Negotiators relay some progress, but talks go in 'circles'

   At a session where negotiators relayed their progress Wednesday, Australia's 
climate minister Chris Bowen, one of the ministers leading talks on the money 
goal, said that he's heard different proposals on how much cash should be in 
the pot. As well as the $1.3 trillion proposed by developing countries, nations 
proposed figures of $900 billion, $600 billion and $440 billion, he said.

   Diego Balanza, the chair of the Like-Minded Group negotiating bloc, said the 
group was also hearing a figure of $200 billion in negotiating corridors. 
That's not enough, he said.

   "Developed countries whose legal obligations it is to provide finance 
continue to shift their responsibility to developing countries," Balanza said.

   But European climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra said "it is important to determine 
the elements first, so that you can have an informed conversation about what an 
ambitious and also realistic number could be."

   Juan Pablo Hoffmaister of the Environmental Defense Fund said "the 
frustration is palpable" as time starts to run out.

   Hoffmaister, who's a former negotiator for developing countries, said that 
while potential climate finance goals are finally out, it's still unclear how 
they will be delivered -- loans, grants or other means. "We need to fix this 
over the next 72 hours," he said.

   There appeared to be some positivity on working through other issues at the 
talks.

   South Africa's climate minister Dion George -- one of two ministers leading 
talks on how to cut fossil fuels -- said that "all parties confirmed their 
commitment to delivering on the Dubai consensus reached last year" when 
countries pledged to transition away from fossil fuels.

   And New Zealand's climate minister Simon Watts was also "very encouraged" by 
movement on so-called Article 6, a proposal to slash emissions through, among 
other things, a system of carbon credits that allow nations to pollute if they 
offset emissions elsewhere.

   But a lot was still left to work out.

   Alden Meyer of the European think tank E3G summed up the state of 
negotiations on Wednesday by saying the word of the day at the talks is 
"circle... as in going around in circles."

   Amid world conflict, ministers push for climate action

   Also Wednesday, ministers addressed the venue's main plenary hall to push 
for a strong outcome at the talks and slammed wars around the world for their 
devastating impact on communities and the environment.

   "Global military spending stands at 2.5 trillion annually. For some $2.5 
trillion dollars to kill each other, it's not enough, but one trillion to save 
lives is unreasonable," said Panama Climate Envoy Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez. 
"Causing our own extinction is the most ridiculous thing. At least the 
dinosaurs had an asteroid. What is our excuse?"

   Nisreen Tamimi, chairperson of the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority 
warned of "ecocide" after over a year of Israeli bombardment in Gaza. 
"Protection of the environment is actually not an ancillary issue, it is not a 
secondary option, it is a basic right that is related to all of us as human 
beings," she said.

   Ukraine's environment minister Svitlana Grynchuk also called attention to 
the damage of forest fires caused by Russian military actions in the country. 
"Nature knows no borders," she said.

   Meanwhile, half the world away in Rio, Brazil, where the Group of 20 summit 
wrapped up on Tuesday, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres 
told the group of the world's largest economies that "the success of COP29 is 
largely in your hands."

   "That goal, the financial goal, in its different layers, must meet the needs 
of developing countries, beginning with a significant increase in concessional 
public funds," he said.

   And the president of Brazil, Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, said developed 
nations should consider moving their 2050 emission goals forward to 2040 or 
2045.

   "The G20 is responsible for 80% of greenhouse effect emissions," he said. 
"Even if we are not walking the same speed, we can all take one more step."