Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, flanked by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, attends the Opening Ceremony of the United Nations climate change conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan on Nov 12, 2024.  Reuters

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is attending the 29th United Nations climate conference, also known as COP29, in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Tuesday, where he is expected to call for a “balanced and ambitious” climate action.

PM Shehbaz is participating in the two-day ‘World Leaders Climate Action Summit’ today, and is set to address it tomorrow (Wednesday), where he will highlight issues such as loss and damage, adaptation, mitigation, and means of implementation.

Pakistan is ranked among the top 10 most climate-vulnerable countries, according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021.

It has faced increasingly frequent and severe weather events, such as unprecedented floods, intense monsoon rains, devastating heat waves, rapid glacial melting and glacial lake outburst floods.

PM Shehbaz was warmly received by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and UN Secretary-General António Guterres upon his arrival at the summit venue today, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

PM Shehbaz Sharif is received by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and UN Secretary-General António Guterres as he arrives at the venue to attend COP29 in Baku on November 12. — Radio Pakistan
The first day of the Climate Action Summit will feature statements from various heads of states, beginning from 3pm Pakistan time.

Speakers include the United Kingdom’s PM Keir Starmer, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Among those scheduled to address the high-level meeting tomorrow, besides PM Shehbaz, are Bangladesh leader Muhammad Yunus and Russia’s PM Mikhail Mishustin.

PM Shehbaz is listed as the 37th speaker out of 47 leaders during the session scheduled from 10am to 6pm (Pakistan time).

PM meets world leaders
On the sidelines of COP29, PM Shehbaz interacted with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and discussed cooperation on climate change and matters of mutual interest, Radio Pakistan reported.

The premier also met with PM Starmer, where the two discussed enhancing Pakistan-UK cooperation.

He also met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan, where they discussed environmental pollution as well as matters of mutual interest between the two friendly nations, the report added.

In his interactions with Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel and Bangladesh’s Yunus, PM Shehbaz discussed growing temperatures, the threat of rising sea levels, and forest conservation in South Asia.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and PM Shehbaz explored strengthening bilateral relations as well as expanding regional connectivity.

In his meetings with Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Tajikistan’s Rahmon, the leaders spoke about the conservation of glaciers and water resources in Central Asian countries and Pakistan.

They also exchanged views on expanding communication links among Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Radio Pakistan highlighted.

PM to highlight climate change woes of developing countries
According to the Foreign Office, several high-level events and roundtable discussions hosted by Pakistan will also take place at the Pakistan Pavilion during COP29.

It added that at COP29, Pakistan will call for “balanced and ambitious progress on all issues such as loss and damage, adaptation, mitigation and means of implementation”.

“It will seek predictable financing to address developing countries’ climate goals. Pakistan will also underscore the historical responsibility and the principle of Equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibility and call on developed nations to undertake deeper emission cuts.”

According to Radio Pakistan, PM Shehbaz will host the Pakistan-organised Climate Finance Round Table Conference, which will be attended by various world leaders.

During the meeting, the premier will shed light on the challenges faced by developing countries, particularly Pakistan, which contribute the least to the emission of harmful and polluting gases yet are severely affected by the adverse impacts of climate change.

The prime minister will also participate in a high-level event ‘Glaciers 2025: Actions for Glaciers’ organised by Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon on the protection of glaciers.

PM Shehbaz will also hold separate meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark and the Czech Republic, who are also attending COP-29, Radio Pakistan stated.

Pakistan witnessed devastating floods during the 2022 monsoon season, induced by climate change, resulting in the loss of at least 1,700 lives.

With 33 million people affected and swathes of agricultural land washed away, the damage incurred losses worth $30 billion, according to government estimates.

In June 2024, a heat wave brought record-high temperatures, severely impacting public health and agriculture.

World leaders meet for climate talks, but big names missing
Dozens of world leaders convene in Azerbaijan for COP29 but many big names are skipping the UN climate talks where the impact of Donald Trump’s election victory is keenly felt.

UK’s Starmer will unveil an “ambitious” update to the UK’s climate goals later today, and said he wanted his country “to show leadership on the climate challenge.”

Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi and Emmanuel Macron are among G20 leaders missing the event, where uncertainty over future US unity on climate action hung over the opening day.

“It’s not an ideal situation,” acknowledged Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s environment minister. “But in 30 years of COP, it’s not the first time that we’ve faced obstacles,” he told AFP.

“Certainly, everything is still possible.”

Washington’s top climate envoy John Podesta is seeking to reassure countries in Baku that Trump’s re-election will not end US efforts on global warming, even if the issue will be “on the back burner”.

But despite calls for global cooperation, the opening day got off to a rocky start, with feuds over the official agenda delaying by hours the start of formal proceedings in the stadium venue near the Caspian Sea.

“This will be a tough COP,” said Fernanda Carvalho, global climate and energy policy lead at WWF.

“Countries are divided. There is a lack of trust,” she told AFP, and divisions over climate finance “will be reflected in every room of those negotiations.”