A second Donald Trump presidency would remain “liable” for climate funding, irrespective of any decision to pull the US out of the Paris Climate Change accord, according to the lead negotiator for the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29).
Yalchin Rafiyev, who will spearhead talks at the COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan in November, said Trump’s return, if it happens, would be unlikely to disrupt climate goals set by COP participants.
According to the negotiator, this is because the US would remain legally liable to hand over cash to fight climate change under the previous COP agreements.
“I cannot, of course, pre-judge the outcome of any elections… but when we design our formula and strategy for negotiations, we take into account all the scenarios,” the senior Azerbaijani official told Brussels Signal Head of News Justin Stares.
“In our conversations with our US colleagues, we try to maintain the portion of US contribution [of funding] into the new collective quantified goal rather than backsliding.
“This is something coming from the agreements. It is a legal liability issue.”
Rafiyev added that it was also a “moral issue” that developed nations contribute financially to the fight against climate change, regardless of who ends up winning the US presidential race in November.
“We are trying to maintain this spirit within the negotiating process,” he added.
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The first Trump presidency saw the US Government put the brakes on climate negotiations in world fora. President Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accord in 2020 and is expected to maintain this policy if re-elected.
Despite claims to the contrary, Rafiyev said he believed the aim of limiting global warming to 1.5°C remained attainable.
While he acknowledged some had claimed the target had already been missed, Rafiyev insisted that “scientific evidence has so far shown that we haven’t overshot it yet”.
“All the efforts globally, including the COP process itself, is targeting to not overshoot 1.5 degrees,” he said.
“It is still possible and it depends on how we collectively act.”
He added that efforts to force fossil-fuel-producing countries such as Azerbaijan to phase out such fuels in the short term would be counterproductive.
“This is a long-standing industry that has been built and, for many countries, their main source of revenue,” he said.
Rafiyev instead said that a slower “transitioning away” from hydrocarbon fuels was a more “realistic” way of fighting climate change.
The COP negotiator insisted that Azerbaijan was up to the task of shifting away from fossil fuels, with officials from the country having repeatedly stressed their desire to move towards hydrogen production.
The full video interview will be posted on the Brussels Signal homepage and YouTube channel shortly.
A group of motorists who used a fire extinguisher and pepper spray to remove climate protesters blocking a main road in Warsaw “will have to face charges”, according to police. https://t.co/qm8lccCctJ
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