Azerbaijan plans to create new fund for green investments in poor countries

Azerbaijan plans to create a new fund for green investments in poor countries, Azernews reports, citing Reuters.

"Azerbaijan, the host of the UN COP29 climate summit, abandoned plans to impose a levy on fossil fuel producers to increase climate change financing and instead aimed at the summit to create a new fund for green investments in poorer countries," he noted.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that although Azerbaijan initially considered the idea of ??imposing a levy on fossil fuel production in order to raise funds for the fight against climate change, it faced the dissatisfaction of some countries.

"We had several rounds of negotiations with interested parties - other potential donors - and we had to adjust the fund idea to make it attractive to potential donors," the source stressed.

According to the sources, "Azerbaijan will be one of the main donors of this fund." They added that the fund would also seek voluntary contributions from other fossil fuel-producing countries.

Other sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters that oil and gas-producing Gulf countries opposed the initial idea of??the collection.

A COP29 source said the revised proposal would aim to establish a fund during the COP29 summit in November and use public-private partnerships to de-risk investments to help developing countries reduce emissions and combat worsening climate change.

Poor countries have difficulty attracting investments in clean energy due to problems such as high interest rates and domestic debt burdens. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, Africa has received only two percent of global investment in renewable energy over the past two decades.

"Reuters" noted that the COP29 climate talks to be held in November will dominate the issue of finance, where countries will try to agree on a new global target for climate finance, which rich countries will transfer to poorer countries every year from 2025.