Members of the COP29 Presidency are in New York City for the 79th United Nations General Assembly and New York Climate Week, where they will continue to engage with Parties and non-party stakeholders and build momentum to enhance ambition and enable action at COP29.
With leaders and stakeholders from all over the world gathering to focus on international cooperation and climate action, UNGA and NYCW are important venues for progress before COP29 in November.
Throughout the week, the Presidency will participate in, and co-host, a series of events highlighting some of the most pressing climate issues and convening a variety of stakeholders for climate action.
Engagements began, with the Presidency hosting a number of productive meetings, including:
- Mafalda Duarte, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund, to discuss the need for quicker, simplified access to climate finance for developing countries.
- John W. H. Denton AO, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, where they discussed how the private sector contributes to climate action.
- Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Program, to discuss collaboration on addressing plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, and addressing changing water levels in the Caspian Sea.
- Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, where they discussed the Presidency’s close collaboration with the UNFCCC ahead of COP29 in Baku in November.
- Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, to discuss collaboration within the pioneering “Rio Trio” partnership, which convenes the Presidencies of the UNFCCC COP29, CBD COP16, and UNCCD COP16, the governments of Azerbaijan, Colombia, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to advance global sustainability through enhanced collaboration across their Conventions.
- Eamon Ryan, Minister of Environment, Climate and Communications of the Republic of Ireland, where they discussed the need for climate finance that meets the urgency and scale of the climate crisis.
- Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, to discuss their collaboration as part of the Troika to support the delivery of 1.5-aligned NDCs.
The Presidency also co-hosted a High-level Roundtable on Climate, Peace and Human Mobility with the International Organisation for Migration. At the event, Elshad Iskandarov, Ambassador-at-large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan was joined by Director General of the International Organization for Migration Amy Pope, Special Envoy for Climate Change of Italy Francesco Corvaro, Director-General of the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) Ahmed Abdel-Latif, and representatives of multilateral development banks and the UN Department for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. During the event, participants discussed the links between climate change, human mobility and conflict.
