Blog

Baku Azerbaijan
The Conference of the Parties (COP 29) is an annual gathering of world leaders to address climate
issues. In many ways this year’s event held in oil-rich Azerbaijan was disappointing. More than
1,000 oil lobbyists attended and often dominated the discussions. One outcome was that the
wealthy countries agreed to provide 300 billion dollars annually in funding for the less developed
countries to deal with the effects of climate change. Developing nations, however, had sought $1
trillion in assistance and called the agreement “insulting” and argued it did not give them the vital
resources they required to truly address the complexities of the climate crisis.

One positive highlight of the conference was The first-ever Faith Pavilion at a UN Climate Change
Conference hosted by the Muslim Council of Elders in collaboration with the COP28 Presidency,
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and a diverse coalition of global partners
including the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, the Episcopal Diocese of California,
the International Partnership on Religion and Development (PaRD), the Peace Department, and
over 50 faith organizations. Pope Francis had planned to come to the Faith Pavilion for an inaugural
session but was unable to attend in person and gave a video address instead. For more information
on this initiative go to www.faithpavilion.com.