Germany to host top climate talks if no east Europe candidate: UN

PARIS – The United Nations on Monday said next year’s top climate talks will take place in Germany if countries fail to designate an eastern European host, amid a reported impasse caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The annual UN-hosted negotiations focusing on fighting climate change, known as COPs, rotate among regions and draw tens of thousands of attendees including world leaders and industry chiefs.

An eastern European country is due to host the 2024 talks after this year’s COP28, beginning on November 30 in the United Arab Emirates.

A grouping of eastern European nations must unanimously choose the COP29 host, but Russia is reportedly opposing an EU member holding the event as tensions with the bloc run high during the war in Ukraine.

Non-EU countries Armenia and Azerbaijan have also been seen as candidates, but Baku’s offensive in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh has escalated tensions with Moscow.

A decision should theoretically be taken at COP28 in Dubai but there is no deadline, a spokesperson for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) told AFP.

“In case there is no agreement in the Eastern Europe group, COP29 would be held in Germany,” which has hosted the UNFCCC secretariat in the city of Bonn since 1996, the spokesperson added.

The UAE would preside the talks again as the COP28 host, the spokesperson said.

The Financial Times has reported that the UAE was offering to host the talks for a second year running in the absence of an agreement, which the Emirati presidency of COP28 denied.

“This is not even on our radar,” a spokesperson told AFP.

“We remain focused on delivering ambitious climate action at COP28. The question around the host country for COP29 is decided based on the procedures provided by the UNFCCC.”

The potential location of two consecutive COPs in the oil-rich UAE has sparked the ire of NGOs who denounce the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists on the talks.

Such a decision would be “totally unacceptable”, said Mariana Paoli, head of global advocacy at Christian Aid.

Bonn has already hosted two COPs, last doing so in 2017 when the Fijian presidency could not host thousands of delegates for logistical reasons. AFP