3 min readBakuNov 15, 2024 07:55 AM IST
First published on: Nov 14, 2024 at 07:50 AM IST
With more divisions than a show of unity, the Argentine delegation pulled out of the COP29 climate event in Baku and the French minister — heading her country’s delegation — decided to cancel her trip after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev attacked France in his speech on Wednesday.
The Argentine withdrawal came on the order of the country’s President Javier Milei, Spanish media Climatica, which first reported the development, said. The decision sparked speculation that Argentina might pull out of the Paris Agreement with Milei likely to meet US President-elect Donald Trump this week.
Asked whether Argentina would pull out of the agreement, Ana Lamas, undersecretary for environment for Argentina, who led the country’s delegation at COP29, told Reuters: “We are only withdrawing from COP29.”
Trump is expected to once again take the US out of the 2015 Paris Agreement as he did when he entered office in 2016. His successor Joe Biden got the country back into the agreement.
French Minister of Ecological Transition, Energy, Climate and Risk, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, cancelled her Baku trip after Azerbaijan’s President blamed France for alleged human rights violations in some of its overseas territories. He made a similar attack on the Netherlands too.
Ties between France and Azerbaijan have been strained, particularly since the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh started in 2020, and France’s support of the Armenian cause. France, however, will continue to participate in the climate conference negotiations.
The Netherlands has not reacted to Aliyev’s remarks.
The European Commission said it was the host country’s responsibility to ensure that the conference was inclusive.
“Both France and the Netherlands are absolute leaders in the field of climate policy and climate finance. They are very strong voices on climate action and have played pivotal roles in the previous COPs and their delegations will play a pivotal role at this COP as well,” said Jacob Werksman, commissioner, European Commission.
“Regardless of any bilateral disagreements, the COP should be a place where all parties feel at liberty to come to negotiate on climate action. The COP presidency has of course a particularly important role and responsibility to enable inclusive participation. They have been playing that role this week and we expect them to play that role next week as well,” he said.
Werksman admitted that there were wide divergences between countries on finance negotiations and there was little progress on bridging those. “Parties are very significantly far apart on the key elements of the design of the NCQG (New Cumulative Quantitative Goal). It is hard to see exactly where the landing grounds lie at the moment,” he said.
The European Commission said it was the host country’s responsibility to ensure that the conference was inclusive. (AP Photo) 
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