COP29 opens echoing calls to reform financial system

Conference under the shadow of fears of global temp rising 1.5C above pre-industrial levels

- Puja Das

Agreeing a new global climate finance goal at the COP29 climate conference will not be enough to cut toxic greenhouse gases, and countries must work harder to reform the global financial system, a top United Nations official said.

"We must agree on a new global climate finance goal. If at least two-thirds of the world's nations cannot afford to cut emissions quickly, then every nation pays a brutal price," Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in his opening remarks at the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) that began at Baku in Azerbaijan on Monday.

"If nations can't build resilience into supply chains, the entire global economy will be brought to its knees. No country is immune," Stiell said.

Mobilizing support for the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance is a top priority at the climate conference.

The NCQG will replace the $100 billion that developed countries were supposed to contribute annually to the climate fund.