Key climate talks begin in Germany ahead of COP30 summit in Brazil
BONN (dpa)Environmental experts from across the world gathered in western Germany on Monday for a 10-day mid-year meeting, helping to prepare the next UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil.The annual talks in Bonn, where the UN Climate Change Secretariat is headquartered, are seen as a critical step in shaping the global climate agenda ahead of the main event in the Brazilian city of Belém in November, known as COP30.A central issue on the table for the 5,000 experts due to attend the summit is how to allocate billions in climate aid to developing nations.At the last major climate conference, held in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, countries agreed to significantly increase financial support for poorer nations. But disagreements persist over how that funding should be distributed and managed.Delegates are also set to revisit long-standing and contentious topics that have stalled progress in previous rounds.Jan Kowalzig, a climate policy expert at Oxfam Germany, noted that while there is broad consensus on the need to phase out fossil fuels, some nations continue to resist binding commitments to concrete action.The Bonn conference is also sure to be shadowed by geopolitical tensions, particularly the decision by US President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States - for a second time - from the Paris Agreement.The central aim of the 2015 agreement is to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees, compared to pre-industrial levels.The UN's weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation, said that 2024 was the warmest year on record at about 1.55 degrees above the pre-industrial era average.The Paris Agreement is "not yet dead but in grave danger," the WMO said in January, explaining that the accord's long-term temperature goals are measured over decades, not individual years.
The 2025 UN Climate Change Conference is scheduled to begin on November 10 in Belém.
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