ADB discusses providing assistance to Azerbaijan for COP29, O’Brien says

Noelle O’Brien, Director for Climate Change at the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department, stated that the ADB is currently engaged in discussions with the Azerbaijani government regarding how it can contribute to the success of COP29, Azernews reports.

She emphasized the ADB's support for holding COP29 in Azerbaijan and mentioned that the bank is actively exploring avenues to directly assist in the COP29 chairmanship. O’Brien highlighted that there are multiple potential approaches to this support.

Furthermore, she mentioned that negotiations for this year's COP priorities encompass various areas, such as establishing a more ambitious collective quantitative target exceeding the current expectation of $100 billion. She indicated that the ADB anticipates this to be part of the process and is also seeking clarification on the allocation of funding for adaptation and other aspects of global agreements. In response to the Azerbaijani government's request, the ADB is prepared to offer assistance in this regard.

O’Brien noted that the ADB is in discussions with the government regarding investment priorities for the country. This collaborative effort involves coordination between the bank's industry teams and its Central and West Asia team. Finally, it was mentioned that Azerbaijan will host COP29 in November of this year.

She said that sustainable procurement can be a key element in achieving NDC (Nationally determined contributions) targets.

According to her, the bank is implementing the climate change goals that countries have put at the forefront.

She said that for most countries, they are included in the NDC. This is a commitment made under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. But within that there is a whole area of ??support, she noted.

So, in 2025 there will be NDCs, new ambitious commitments, which will be adopted at the Conference of the Parties, but there is an opportunity to include sustainable procurement as a key element to achieve the goals of the NDC, she said.

So, if it is possible to accelerate this process and ensure that it is included in the NDC, that will be a very important step, she added.