(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 15 - Speaking on behalf of the European Union, European Council President Charles Michel insisted on broadening the range of donors to climate finance, including emerging countries such as China.
    The Prime Minister of the Caribbean island Barbados, Mia Mottley, whose country risks ending up under water, called for taxes on fossil fuels, maritime transport and aviation to finance climate policies.
    Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said countries that have been industrialised longer should help financially to ensure that emerging economies do not emit as much greenhouse gases as they otherwise would. He referred to this year's aim to increase the present amount of 100 billion Dollars that developed countries allocate for developing countries' climate transition.
    "The ambition now is to roughly double that amount so that the allocations that developed countries can make to the fund for less developed countries would contribute to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources," Plenković said.
    Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen emphasised that private capital is needed if developing countries are to receive sufficient aid. At the summit, Denmark provided a concrete example of how Western public money can grow into larger private sums. By providing a 700 million Danish Krone (DKK) guarantee, Denmark will secure private investments totalling over DKK three billion (400 million Euro) in Asian developing countries.
    Germany has pledged six billion Euro (6.4 billion Dollars) annually for climate financing starting next year. However, previous budget plans revealed a shortfall in the allocation of these funds and climate activists warn Germany risks losing credibility if it fails to meet commitments.
    The President of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, said that the "sustainable energy transition must be environmentally and socially just". She highlighted that countries should have permanent access to climate action funds prior to their EU membership, referring to funds needed to implement EU climate laws as part of the challenging "Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity" cluster in the EU accession negotiations.
    North Macedonia became an EU candidate country in December 2005.
    Accession negotiations opened in July 2022.
    World leaders divided on climate action.
    Some leaders in Baku defended fossil fuels during the two days of speeches, while others from countries plagued by climate disasters warned that they were running out of time.
    Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, whose energy-rich country is hosting the COP29 climate talks, repeated his insistence that oil, gas and other natural resources are a "gift of God".
    Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Penitala Teo insisted that for Pacific island nations like his, "there is simply no time to waste". He urged countries to "deliver a clear signal that the world is promptly phasing out fossil fuel".
    The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, highlighted the example of the tragedy in Valencia due to the recent floods to appeal to the conscience of the international community so that it reacts to the evidence that "climate change kills", urging it to stop "dragging its feet" and fight the deniers. He recalled that the floods caused 222 fatalities.
    Some of the strongest words during the summit came from Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who complained that "our speeches full of good words about climate change, change nothing". Rama skewered the many leaders who skipped this year's event, saying their absences added "insult to injury".
    Slovenia's chief climate negotiator at COP29, Tina Kobilšek, warned that "the window for achieving the 1.5 degrees Celsius target of the Paris Agreement is closing rapidly", according to the latest findings of experts on greenhouse gas emissions around the globe. "We know that this year is likely to be the warmest on record and that Slovenia is warming twice as fast," she said, adding that all alarm bells should be ringing.
    Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called on big powers to ensure peace in the world and, above all, resolve the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, so that the world could tackle the issue of climate change. Addressing the summit in Baku, Vučić said restoring peace was one of the "prerequisites to start tackling the issue of fighting climate change".
    According to the President of the Slovak Republic, Peter Pellegrini, the longer we wait with the fight against climate change, the more we might lose in terms of our lifestyle, ecosystem and economy. He pointed out that Slovakia's emissions have dropped almost by 50 percent since 1990, with the last coal mine having shut down in 2023. He added that Slovakia is recalibrating its focus on low-emission forms of energy - particularly nuclear energy and renewable energy sources.
    Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, meanwhile, urged a "realistic global outlook" that did not prioritise decarbonisation over "our production and social system's sustainability". The right-wing leader added that "we must protect nature, with man at its core. An approach that is too ideological and not pragmatic on this matter risks taking us off the road to success".
    The UN Climate Change Conference rotates annually between the world's regions. Next year, Belém in Brazil will host COP30 on behalf of the Latin America and Caribbean region.
    (The content is based on news by agencies participating in the enr, in this case AFP, ANSA, BTA, dpa, EFE, HINA, MIA, Ritzau, STA, TASR and Tanjug). (ANSA).