Baku, 21 November 2024 (dpa/MIA) – UN Secretary General António Guterres urged negotiating teams at the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku on Thursday to take ambitious decisions to limit global warming to the 1.5-degree Celsius target.

"Failure is not an option," said Guterres, who returned to Azerbaijan ahead of the conference's final day on Friday.

The UN climate talks, known as COP29, had to set a new goal for assisting developing countries, so that they would be able to present climate targets in line with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, Guterres said.

Financial pledges to poorer countries to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions have been at the centre of intense discussion in Baku, with conflict over which countries should pay and from what sources the money should be drawn.

The conference had to restore justice, Guterres said. The money being demanded was not a hand-out but an investment against the devastation that unchecked climate chaos would inflict on everyone, he said.

MIA file photo