The head of upcoming climate negotiations emphasized to world leaders an urgent need for a new financial aid package for poor and disaster-struck nations at United Nations talks this fall.
“Time lost is lives, livelihoods and the planet lost,” stated Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s ecology minister and president-designate of the November climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, Simon Stiell, the United Nations’ top climate official, made a heartfelt plea from his hurricane-devastated hometown of Carriacou, Grenada, underscoring the high costs of unchecked climate damage. “Beryl is yet more painful proof,” said Stiell, referring to the record-breaking storm that decimated the island. He warned that without global action, the economic repercussions would continuously impact billions of people.
Stiell highlighted extreme weather events worldwide, linking them to global warming and underscoring the economic burden on poorer countries. Babayev called for a new international climate financial aid goal from rich to poor countries, emphasizing the need to move beyond previously unmet pledges.
Babayev also stressed the importance of activating the ‘loss and damage’ fund to provide reparations. “The only way out of this is together,” Stiell added, stressing the importance of collective global action against climate change.