Ed Miliband: COP29 deal agreed at '11th hour for the climate'

The energy secretary said the deal was the "right thing to do", despite complaints from some nations

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has called the last-minute COP29 deal a "critical 11th-hour deal at the 11th hour for the climate" as the United Nations environmental conference drew to a close.

Climate groups called the $300 billion (£239.5bn) funding agreement, designed to help developing nations combat the impacts of global warming, a "drop in the ocean" of already-rising seawaters.

After the deal was announced at the COP 29 conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, Milliband said: “It is not everything we or others wanted but is a step forward for us all.

“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis.”

He said there is “much more work to do” to prevent climate catastrophe.

“We’ve pushed for ambition in Baku and have restored the UK back to a position of global climate leadership,” he said.

“We will keep up the pace, working with other countries before the world meets again in Brazil for COP30. Only by doing this can we keep future generations safe and reap the benefits of the clean energy revolution.”

Speaking to ITV News, Milliband said: "We do think it is right to help poorer countries to go down the low carbon energy path because we are only 1% of global emissions in Britain and we need other countries to tackle the problem too if we are going to keep future generations safe."

He also said the deal was good for British business in the growing clean energy sector.

US President Joe Biden said that while “substantial work” remained to be done, the conference had set an “ambitious international climate finance goal”.

“While some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s underway in America and around the world, nobody can reverse it — nobody,” he said.

Many in attendance were less than impressed with the multi-nation financial commitment with the final sum more than 125% less than the $1.3 trillion (£1.37 trillion) per year impacted nations had said was needed.

The new climate bursary is, however, three times more than the $100 billion (£79.8 billion) a year 2009 deal that is soon to expire.

ActionAid UK senior climate resilience specialist Zahra Hdidou described the text of the agreement as “a complete catastrophe and a farce,” adding that as “floods and droughts tearing through the Global South, the goal announced remains a drop in the ocean compared to the trillions needed to help climate-hit communities adapt and recover.”

Anti-poverty group Christian Aid also criticised the COP29 deal.

“People of the global south came to these talks needing a lifeboat out of the climate crisis. But all they got was a plank of wood to cling to,” a spokesman said in a statement.

“This summit has been hijacked by rich countries who have failed to negotiate in good faith. The cost of their actions here will be paid in the lives of vulnerable people on the front lines of climate breakdown.”

Friends of Earth head of policy Mike Childs credited the UK delegation for playing a productive role during the talks but still said that in terms of climate leadership, the planet is still light years away from where we were at last year’s meeting in Dubai.

“These latest international talks failed to solve the question of climate finance,” he said.

“Instead they have again kicked the can down the road. Developing countries are being hammered by climate extremes now, predominantly fuelled by the current and historic polluting activities of rich nations, like the UK.”

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