In accordance with Article 6 of the Paris Climate Agreement, some issues have been agreed upon under Article 6.8, and there is a ready document, COP29 President-designate, Mukhtar Babayev, has said.
“One of the most important topics of discussion is Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Some issues have been agreed upon, while others remain open. Discussions are currently underway, in which we are actively participating. If countries can reach an agreement, it will be a very important decision at COP29,” Babayev said.
He noted that article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement has already been agreed upon: “It is almost a ready document. The parties continue discussions on articles 6.2 and 6.4.”
Article 6 is a key part of the Paris Agreement. It allows parties to voluntarily cooperate to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and mobilise financial support for developing countries.
There are three tools under Article 6:
Article 6.2: Allows countries to exchange mitigation outcomes bilaterally and use them towards their nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
Article 6.4: Establishes a new mechanism for the validation, verification and issuance of high-quality carbon credits.
Article 6.8: Provides opportunities for countries to cooperate towards the achievement of their NDCs without relying on carbon markets.
While emphasising that Azerbaijan is ready to create platforms to discuss COP29 initiatives, Babayev disclosed that countries are discussing introduction of a special tax (solidarity tax) in the field of maritime cargo transportation and aviation.
“Several countries have taken the initiative to introduce a tax on the transportation of goods by sea, air, which mainly concerns business class passengers or charter flights. Everyone’s approach is different, this is a subject of discussion. For such initiatives, we are ready to open platforms on which such issues can be discussed in Baku,” Babayev noted.
He added that among those who are actively promoting this idea is Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley.
“Decisions are not made by Azerbaijan, our country creates platforms, and 200 countries must come to an agreement during discussions,” he explained.
Last week, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, suggested that carbon emissions and windfall profits from fossil fuel companies should be taxed (the so-called windfall tax).
According to Babayez, the third high-level dialogue “International Energy Agency (IEA)-COP29” will take place in September 2024 in the US.
“The previous IEA-COP29 dialogue with the participation of the head of the agency, Fatih Birol, took place in June in London. Our next meeting will be in this format, i.e. the third high-level dialogue will be held in New York in September this year,” Babayev noted.
The dialogues, co-chaired by Birol and Babayev in close partnership with the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, are aimed at continuing to form an international consensus on ways to develop energy, reduce industry emissions to zero and limit global warming to 1.5°C.
The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be held in Baku in November 2024.
