EU ministers agree on COP29 negotiating position - official

By Julia Payne

EU environment ministers agreed on the bloc's negotiating position ahead of the COP 29 United Nations climate summit in Azerbaijan next month, a council statement said.

Negotiators will meet in Baku Nov. 11-22 to discuss a new climate financing goal to replace wealthy nations' current commitment to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries. Ministers met in Luxembourg on Monday to hash out the final version of their position.

Vulnerable and developing countries want a far larger funding goal but the EU and Canada have said a large jump in public funding was "unrealistic."

The council underlined in its statement that "private investment will have to provide the largest share of the required investment in the green transition."

The COP29 presidency chief negotiator said on Monday that the scale of the need was in the trillions of dollars but a realistic public sector goal was in the "hundreds of billions."

The EU has previously called on China, the world's second-biggest economy, to be a contributor in the climate finance plan but China is still considered a developing nation in U.N. parameters.