Reuters. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders at the COP29 summit on Tuesday (November 12) to “pay up” to prevent climate-led humanitarian disasters, and said time was running out to limit a destructive rise in global temperatures.

 

Nearly 200 nations have gathered at the annual U.N. climate summit in Baku, focused this year on raising hundreds of billions of dollars to fund a global transition to cleaner energy sources and limit the climate damage caused by carbon emissions.

 

But on the day of the summit designed to bring together world leaders and generate political momentum for the marathon negotiations, many of the leading players were not present to hear Guterres’ message.

 

After victory for Donald Trump, a climate change denier, in the U.S. presidential election, President Joe Biden will not attend. Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a deputy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is not attending because of political developments in Brussels.