BAKU: Nearly nine hours after the presidency of the UN climate talks was officially handed over to Azerbaijan, an agenda for the COP29 was adopted.The holdup was on account of divergence of views on two major issues. The first related to the way forward on the dialogue on the implementation of the outcomes of the global stocktake. The second was on a proposal submitted by China on behalf of the advanced developing countries quartet BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) on "climate change-related unilateral trade restrictive measures", simply put, the European Union's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).The dispute on the dialogue on the implementation of the outcomes of the global stocktake was about which track should house the discussions. At its core, the dispute is about whether the discussions in Baku should give primacy to finance or focus on all aspects, i.e., emissions reduction, adapting to climate change and resilience, and financial and technical resources to implement climate actions.The "resolution" after rounds of backroom negotiations was the same one that had been put on table on Monday morning. The dialogue on the implementation of the outcomes of the global stocktake would be under finance with a footnote in the agenda that made it clear that the discussions would not be limited to finance.On the face of it, the resolution presents a compromise that takes into account the concerns expressed by all countries. However, that countries agreed to a formulation that was available to them nine hours ago signals that the agenda fight was more about a show of strength, no country or negotiating group willing to move from their stated positions. This fight over the location of the dialogue on the GST implementation was a continuation of the fight that dominated the Bonn intersessional meetings in June.Developing countries, particularly the like-minded developing countries, which includes India, China, Bolivia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, BASIC and Africa Group want finance as the main focus of discussion on the implementation of the outcomes of the global stocktake. They argue that this is in keeping with the agreement in Dubai last year. In the UAE Consensus on the outcomes of the global stocktake, the decision to set up a dialogue on implementing the outcomes of the global stock market is mentioned under the section on finance (paragraph 97).Developed countries and some developing countries-the UK, European Union, Umbrella Group (includes Australia, US), AOSIS representing the small island states, AILAC (Independent Association of Latin America and the Caribbean), and the least developed countries-want implementation of the GST outcomes to be a separate item. This would allow for a discussion on all aspects of the GST outcomes, such as tripling of renewable capacity and doubling of rate of energy efficiency, as well as finance.
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