COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan: Key quotes and statements

MANILA, Philippines – The 2024 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference or COP29 is happening in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22. Climate finance, fossil fuel transition, and money for loss and damage are among the top agenda items.

The sore need for climate finance has been highlighted in speeches and discussions among world leaders, with developing countries taking the lead. Leaders have also emphasized preparing to meet the goals set during the Paris Agreement. 

Aside from world leaders, influential figures and advocates like Pope Francis and actor Theo James have also spoken out to shine the light on the urgent climate crisis.

Bookmark this page for key quotes and statements from world leaders and notable figures at COP29.

November 11, 2024

UN climate chief Simon Stiell

Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said in his opening remarks that agreeing on a new global climate finance goal was a must at COP29.

“Let’s dispense with the idea that climate finance is charity. An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every single nation, including the largest and the wealthiest. But it’s not enough to just agree on a goal. We must work harder to reform the global financial system, giving countries the fiscal space they so desperately need.” 

COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev

In his opening remarks, COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev talked about the climate change impacts that countries have been experiencing in recent years.

“Colleagues, we are on a road to ruin. But these are not future problems. Climate change is already here,” he said. 

“Whether you see them or not, people are suffering in the shadows. They are dying in the dark and they need more than compassion, more than prayers and paperwork. They are crying out for leadership and action. COP29 is the unmissable moment to chart a new path forward for everyone.” 

He added that the COP29 presidency was resolved to take the first global stocktake forward.

“COP29 is a moment of truth for the Paris Agreement. It will test our commitment to the multilateral climate system. We must now demonstrate that we are prepared to meet the goals we have set ourselves.”

November 12, 2024

Philippine Environment Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga

At the summit, the Philippines signed a host country agreement with the Loss and Damage Fund Board, formalizing its duties in the board.

The agreement gives privileges, immunities, and legal capacities to the board in Philippine territory.

“For the Philippines, living with risk and loss and damage has been part of our history as an archipelago. We therefore have a deep and personal stake in ensuring that the fund for responding to loss and damage succeeds,” Philippine Environment Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga said. 

She said the fund “may never be enough” but it will still be critical for many communities.

United States climate diplomat John Podesta

John Podesta, America’s top climate negotiator, reaffirmed to world leaders that the US remains committed to climate action after Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

“Facts are still facts. Science is still science. The fight is bigger than one election, one political cycle in one country.” 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

UN chief Antonio Guterres said COP29 “must tear down the walls to climate finance,” with the G20 taking the lead.

“On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price,” he said. 

“In this crucial period, you and your governments must be guided by a clear truth: climate finance is not charity, it’s an investment. Climate action is not optional, it’s an imperative.”

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev

In his opening speech, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev addressed critics who he said were advocating for a COP29 boycott.

“Azerbaijan’s share in global gas emissions is only 0.1%. I have to bring these figures to the attention of our audience because right after Azerbaijan was elected as a host country of COP29, we became a target of a coordinated, well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail.” 

November 13, 2024

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine urged world leaders during the summit to accelerate the clean energy transition to mitigate climate change, which she said “threatens human rights.”

“On climate, the tide is turning today…. Time will judge those that fail to make the transition. Some may fail because of denial and delusions — the misplaced idea that their country, somehow, will be immune,” she said. 

The Marshall Islands is one of the key voices in this year’s climate summit in Azerbaijan, leading a coalition that pushes for more aggressive emissions-cutting targets and policies.

Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis

During the summit in Azerbaijan, Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis slammed his fellow world leaders for the lack of urgency in climate action.

“What we endure, you endure. What we lose, you lose. And if we fail to act, it will be our children and grandchildren who bear the burden, their dreams reduced to memories of what could have been.”

November 14, 2024 

Pope Francis

Pope Francis, who has authored landmark documents on the climate, urged the international community in an X post to “look beyond their own preferences.”

“I hope COP29 may demonstrate that the international community is ready to look beyond their own preferences to focus on the good of humanity and our common home, which God has entrusted to our care and responsibility.”

Filipino climate justice activist Yeb Saño

With back-to-back storms wreaking havoc in the Philippines comes the growing urgency for climate action.

Yeb Saño, Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director, hoped that world leaders can agree on not just climate finance for developing countries but also the phaseout of fossil fuels.

“Burning fossil fuels heats the planet and the oceans and causes these storms to become more powerful and dangerous. That’s the science. Here in Baku, agreement on climate finance to help climate action in developing countries is just one part of the solution. Phasing out fossil fuels is the other.” 

Actor Theo James

Theo James, actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador, put the spotlight on refugees and the need to protect people displaced by the effects of climate change.

“As we’ve heard of the 120 million people forcibly displaced around the world, 90 million of them are facing high to extreme climate change impacts. That’s why more help is needed now. People displaced by impacts of climate change and conflict need protection, and they need help from climate financing specifically.” 

November 15, 2024 

Alliance of Small Island States chair Cedric Schuster

Cedric Schuster, head of the negotiating bloc Alliance of Small Island States, urged developed nations to take the lead in mobilizing climate finance.

“We’re finding ourselves again having to make a case for high ambition on climate finance to support the world’s most vulnerable. Therefore, it is imperative that [the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance] follows Article 9 of the Paris Agreement, which sets out that finance shall be provided by developed countries and that developed countries should continue to take the lead to mobilize finance.”

Least Developed Countries chair Evans Njewa

Evans Njewa, chair of the Least Developed Countries group, said climate finance must come in the form of grant money instead of loans to support adaptation and loss and damage.

“Our position is that the new goal…should largely be supported by public finance because this is…the commitment of the developed countries to mobilize and provide. Therefore, we need public finance that will come in the form of grant money to support adaptation and loss and damage as much as we can because adaptation is the priority and we cannot afford to support adaptation from loans.” 

Climate leaders

A group of former leaders and climate experts, including former UNFCCC boss Christiana Figueres and former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, said the COP process had achieved much but now needed an overhaul.

“It is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose. Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity,” they wrote in an open letter to the UN. 

“We need a shift from negotiation to implementation, enabling the COP to deliver on agreed commitments and ensure the urgent energy transition and phase-out of fossil energy.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Guterres told young climate activists to “be even more determined and imaginative” in pushing for climate action.

“My message to young climate activists at the #COP29 climate conference: You have every right to be angry. I am angry too. I am angry because we are on the verge of the climate abyss, and I don’t see enough urgency or political will to address the emergency,” he wrote in an Instagram post. 

“It is high time to reverse this trend.” 

November 20, 2024

Abraham Nasak, acting director general for Vanuatu’s Ministry of Climate Change 

The island country of Vanuatu mentioned the upcoming International Court of Justice public hearings on the request for an advisory opinion on states’ obligations with respect to climate change.

“As we gather here at COP29, the [International Court of Justice] is preparing to hear unprecedented proceedings on the obligations of states regarding climate change and the legal consequences of their actions and inactions,” Vanuatu’s Abraham Nasak said. 

“These COPs have been going on for a very long time. We can negotiate as parties here, but it is clear we cannot negotiate with climate change.”

– Laurice Angeles/Rappler.com