BAKU: The recent PreCop meeting has successfully laid the groundwork for the upcoming COP29 climate negotiations, EU Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra stated during a lecture at ADA University.

According to Trend News Agency, Hoekstra, while speaking at the “Global Perspectives” series organized by the Center of Excellence in European Studies, underscored the significance of the preparatory meeting. “There is a lot of work to be done ahead of COP29. Not only do we need to build confidence in the consensus reached at COP28 in Dubai, but we also need to make it more concrete. PreCop has been a good start for the negotiations,” he said.

Hoekstra also stressed the urgent need for global efforts to transition from fossil fuels to combat climate change effectively. “It’s important to shift towards green energy. Over time, we need to phase out gas, as it is a fossil fuel. We must reduce our dependency on it,” he explained. The commissioner highlighted the necessity for increased financial investments
in green transitions and adaptation to climate impacts, pointing out that public funding might not suffice to address the scale of challenges faced.

Pre-COP, held on October 10-11 in Azerbaijan, serves as an informal forum for a select group of countries to discuss key political aspects of climate negotiations and provide recommendations for future sessions. This preparatory event is crucial for smoothing the path toward the main COP conferences, which are pivotal in shaping international climate policy.

This year, Azerbaijan will host COP29 in November, following its selection during the COP28 plenary in Dubai the previous December. The event is expected to draw approximately 70-80,000 participants from around the world to Baku, enhancing its role as a central hub in global climate discussions.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, established at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, aims to prevent hazardous human interference with the climate system. The Conference of the Part
ies (COP), the convention’s supreme governing body, meets annually unless decided otherwise by its members. The inaugural COP took place in Berlin, Germany, in March 1995.