Organisers of this year's UN climate change conference, known as COP29, which took place in the middle of November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan, have not shown great optimism as the event reaches its end on Friday. The atmosphere has not been helped by the re-election of Donald Trump as US president, leaving global climate agreements at a critical juncture, with their future once again hanging in the balance.

During former US President Donald Trump’s first term, the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump’s stance on climate change remains unchanged, as he continues to question both its reality and the measures designed to address it.

Petr Holub, director of the Climate Protection Section at the Ministry of the Environment, who is leading the Czech delegation in Baku, spoke with Czech Radio to comment on what Trump’s reelection means for the UN’s climate goals: “It has to be said that in 2016, after Trump was first elected, there were a number of businesses, banks, and financial institutions in the US that wanted to pursue a decarbonization strategy independently of what the federal government was doing. In addition, President Joe Biden has launched the famous IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act, which is more of a decarbonization investment plan. There are tax incentives and commercial loan guarantees. That will largely remain in place. I think the future President Trump may make cuts to it, but he won't have the power to stop it completely.”

A major focus of this year's COP29 is financing green transformation in developing countries. Representatives of the European Union countries, including Czechia, have been pushing private investors to be more involved in helping boost the green transformation.

Attendees at COP29 are still debating how to increase funding, who should carry the majority of the costs, and how to "leverage" private funds. In Czech programs, applicants can receive a 30-40% subsidy for energy-efficient home renovations. The remaining funding comes from private sources, with banks playing a role. This model could be scaled to a national level, using public funds as leverage to achieve the necessary funding levels.

Apart from private financing, it’s clear that more government and EU funding is needed as well. The European Union gives about 30 to 36 billion euros a year. Globally, investments amount to USD 100 billion a year (around CZK 2.5 trillion). However, that figure needs to be ten to fifteen times higher to reach climate targets.

Prepared by the team from the foreign office CzechTrade South Africa.

Source: Radio Prague International, https://english.radio.cz/europe-cannot-reduce-emissions-alone-says-head-czech-cop29-delegation-8835149

Author: Jakub Ferenčík, Lukáš Matoška