Trade tensions cast shadow over 

The annual UN climate summit (UNFCCC) has been kicked off Monday in Azerbaijan's capital Baku to resolve the summit's top agenda item, a deal for up to $1 trillion in annual climate finance for developing countries to keep warming below 1.5C.

Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus will lead Bangladesh delegation and will address various forums of the COP-29. He will highlight the challenges of Bangladesh, one of the most climate vulnerable countries. At the summit he will place demands focusing the risks that the country is facing due to climate change.

However, more than 51,000 people including 200 heads of state, representatives, member of the civil society, youths, officials and delegates are expected at the summit to discuss how to generate trillions of dollars for climate finance.

The current compensation called 'loss and Damage' amounting $100 billion a year expires in 2025 and is considered well below what developing nations need. However, the major donors, including the European Union and the United States, have still not said how much they are willing to pay, resisting pressure to put even a ballpark figure on the table.

It has been said that about 77 per cent of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere now comes from the G20 rich nations, many of whom are now cutting back on their pollution, something that is not happening in most poor nations or China.

"The countries that are rich today have become rich by  polluting the Earth," said Ani Dasgupta, president of World Resources Institute.

The money being discussed is for three things: Helping poor nations switch from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy; helping them adapt to the impacts of a warming world such as sea level rise and worsening storms; and compensating vulnerable poor nations for climate change damage.

The nonprofit research group Climate Policy Initiative estimates the world needs about five times the current annual amount of climate financing to limit warming to 1.5 C (2.7 degrees F) since the late 1800s. Currently, global average temperatures are about 1.3 C (2.3 degrees F) higher.

That's why this year, COP29 has been dubbed a "finance COP" as the rich countries most responsible for global warming are supposed to commit to substantially increasing their assistance to poorer countries for adaptation-mitigation and compensate the poor countries (as per Paris Agreement) to implement their climate action.

"Colleagues, we are on a road to ruin. But these are not future problems. Climate change is already here," CoP29 President Mukhtar Babayev, also the Minister of Ecology and Natural Science of Azerbaijan, said in his inaugural speech. 

"Whether you see them or not, people are suffering in the shadows. They are dying in the dark and they need more than compassion, more than prayers and paperwork. They are crying out for leadership and action. COP29 is the unmissable moment to chart a new path forward for everyone," Babayev said.

"Climate catastrophe is hammering health, widening inequalities, harming sustainable development, and rocking the foundations of peace. The vulnerable are hardest hit," UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

All countries are readying for tough talks on finance and trade, following a year of weather disasters that have emboldened developing countries in their demands for climate cash, Md Abul Kalam Azad of Action Aid Manager, JustEnergy Transition has said.

However, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan, who will be attending the COP29, stressed the urgent need for global unity in tackling climate change.

Adviser Hasan urged developed countries to fulfill their climate finance commitments and provide technological support to nations most vulnerable to climate impacts.

"It's time that developed nations uphold their commitments to support the most affected countries," she asserted, highlighting the disproportionate challenges faced by vulnerable nations like Bangladesh.

Analysis by a team of international experts established by WMO found that long-term global warming was currently likely to be around 1.3C, compared to the 1850-1900 baseline, the agency said.

Before the summit talks can even begin from tomorrow, countries will need to agree on an agenda by consensus including an 11th-hour proposal by China to bring trade disputes into the mix.

The Chinese proposal - made on behalf of the fast-developing "BASIC" group of countries including Brazil, India and South Africa - asked for the summit to address "restrictive trade measures" such as the EU's carbon border tariffs going into effect in 2026.

"It's a game with high stakes," said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare, a physicist. "Right now the fate of the planet depends very much on what we're able to pull off in the next five or 10 years."

However, COP29, won't be as high-profile as last year's, with 48 fewer heads of state scheduled to speak. The leaders of the top two carbon polluting countries - China and the United States - will be absent. But if money negotiations fail in Baku, it will handicap 2025's make-or-break climate negotiations, experts say.

Not only is dealing with money always a touchy subject, but two of the rich countries that are expected to donate money to poor nations - the United States and Germany - are in the midst of dramatic government changes. Even though the United States delegation will be from the Biden Administration, the reelection of Donald Trump, who downplays climate change and dislikes foreign aid, makes U.S. pledges unlikely to be fulfilled.

The money isn't just direct government aid from one nation to another. Some of it comes from multinational development finance banks, like the World Bank. There's also private investment that will be considered a large chunk. Developing nations are seeking relief from their $29 trillion global debt.

The ministry of environment, forest and climate change will send a 28-member delegation comprising ministry officials, departmental representatives and climate experts.

In addition to negotiation efforts, Bangladesh has planned a 100-square-metre pavilion at COP-29. This space will host 13 side events and serve as a venue for bilateral discussions.

The pavilion is expected to function as a knowledge-sharing platform for both domestic and international stakeholders-including government officials, non-governmental organisations and youth groups-to foster engagement and dialogue on climate issues.

Meanwhile, the NAP identified 113 major interventions in 11 climate-stressed regions across the country, for which $230 billion would be needed.

Currently, the government of Bangladesh spends approximately 6-7 per cent of its annual budget on climate adaptation, about 75 per cent of which comes from domestic sources.