COP29 Agreement Is A Hopeful Starting Point for Financial Fairness – Eamon Ryan

Hard-fought agreement in Baku paves the way for reform of the global financial systems so that money can get to where it is needed the most.

Eamon Ryan, Irish Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, welcomed the hard-fought agreement that was reached at COP29 in Baku late last night, calling it a hopeful step towards ensuring financial fairness for the countries that need in most. 

Following nearly two weeks of negotiations and a final dramatic 24 hours, when it looked at various points like the talks could fall, he said that the agreement was made possible because of the concerted effort by all parties to keep the COP process alive. In a world ravaged by war, conflict and uncertainty, he said that it showed that multilateralism was still working and essential.

The Minister said that the commitment of at least USD 300 billion should be seen as a foundation for further progress on finance, with a clear pathway ahead to reach USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035. 

It moves the world much closer to reforming the global financial architecture so that developing countries can have access to affordable finance for critical investment in areas adaptation. It mandates the significant ramp up of ambition from the World Bank and Multilateral Development Banks when it comes to supporting climate action and development. 

“We protected the aim to transition away from fossil fuels reached in Dubai last year, despite attempts by fossil fuel countries to disrupt the process and we overcame real difficulties in the negotiation process to still get a deal over the line. I am particularly proud of the role our Irish team played in the negotiations. We have a proud record in climate finance for adaptation and can help build bridges between north and south in our world,” he said. 

Minister Ryan was one of the Ministerial Pairs charged with negotiating on adaptation, along with his counterpart from Costa Rica.

“There was an imperative on us all to deliver here in Baku,” he continued. “To walk away would have been unforgivable and shameful given the scale of the crisis we all face. This agreement is far from perfect and it does not go nearly far enough, particularly on mitigation, gender and human rights – but it keeps the core principles of the Paris Agreement alive and it gives us a basis to work from as we move forward to make COP30 in Brazil transformational.”

“Importantly it maintains North South collaboration and co-operation. If this had broken down, particularly against the spectre of geopolitical uncertainty we are all facing in the coming months, it would have done incredible damage. We have to avoid division on climate at all costs. We have to keep the needs of the most vulnerable at the centre of everything we do. This COP was all about bringing development and climate justice together and I think we’ve left Baku with this in a stronger place.”

“Negotiations have not been easy here with a lot of fossil fuel interests looking to stop a deal, particularly on mitigation, but multilateralism has prevailed and the world has stood firm together for climate and financial justice.”

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman today welcomed the overnight agreement amongst delegates at the 29th COP UN Climate Change Conference in Baku.

“It was absolutely critical that this COP ended with an agreement on climate financing, and it’s hugely positive that we’ve landed there, especially given how close the talks were to ending without any agreement at all.

“No doubt, we still have a huge amount of work to do if we are to have hope of meeting the Paris objectives. But this deal shows that we in Ireland and in Europe are serious about driving the change needed and putting in place the mechanisms to do so.

“At this time we simply cannot backslide on climate commitments here at home or internationally.

“I want to pay tribute to Minister Eamon Ryan, who took a lead role on behalf of the European Union in talks on adaptation at Baku, and the extraordinary team of Irish officials supporting him."