COP29 Closes: Increase The Number of Countries Sharing Burden of Decarbonization

Editorial

14:54 JST, November 26, 2024

Measures against global warming are increasingly urgent, as abnormal weather events take place one after another in various parts of the world. It is hoped that efforts will be made to strengthen such measures by bridging the differences that currently exist between developed and developing countries.

The 29th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), held in Azerbaijan, has come to a close. This year, the largest focus was on the amount of support for measures against global warming contributed by developed countries to developing countries.

It costs every country a huge amount of money to switch to renewable energy or to develop infrastructure to prevent or recover from disasters caused by rising temperatures.

Without the backing of funds for measures against global warming contributed by developed countries through international organizations and other entities, developing countries cannot advance their global warming measures.

The agreement reached this time is to triple the annual support target for developing countries from the current $100 billion to $300 billion (about ¥46 trillion) by 2035.

The developing countries initially sought a contribution of about $1 trillion from developed nations, and India expressed strong disappointment. However, it is of no small significance that developed and developing countries have finally reached an agreement that the former will increase their contributions.

It is difficult for developed countries alone to cover the agreed target amount. In the first place, the current target set in 2009 was only achieved in 2022. It is important to ask China, which has achieved economic development, and the oil-producing countries of the Middle East to bear their fair share of the burden.

The United States returned to the Paris Agreement, the international framework for measures against global warming, under the administration of President Joe Biden and has led the discussions at COP meetings along with Europe. But it has been decided that former President Donald Trump, who has a negative view of measures against global warming, will return to power. It is certain that Washington will withdraw from the agreement again.

Meanwhile, apart from moves by the U.S. federal government, there is a growing active decarbonization movement in U.S. state governments and the U.S. private sector. If the Trump administration turns its back on global warming, it may have consequences that will hinder its own country’s industrial competitiveness.

The Paris Agreement aims to limit the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5 C compared to pre-industrial levels. Each country has come out with its own greenhouse gas reduction target, but even if all countries achieve their goals, a rise of more than 1.5 C appears inevitable.

For this reason, each country is to announce a new target by February next year. At the COP29 meeting, Britain declared ahead of schedule a high target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 81% against the 1990 level by 2035.

Japan has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 46% from the fiscal 2013 level in 2030. It is hoped that Japan will build up the figure significantly in its new target for 2035. Consideration must be hastened.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 26, 2024)