German Foreign Minister's climate hypocrisy: West shifts responsibility to developing nations

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has made heart-wrenching comments regarding the concluding COP29 climate conference, attempting to shift the EU's responsibility for climate financing onto other negotiating parties.

According to Report, Minister Baerbock published several social media posts, pledging the European Union's commitment to climate financing. However, she conveniently overlooks the absence of Western bloc leaders, particularly European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, from key negotiations on climate change agreements at the UN COP29 summit.

Though the USA and Europe bear the primary responsibility for centuries of extensive environmental pollution, Baerbock seeks to transfer the burden of climate financing to developing countries. For centuries, European nations exploited colonies in Africa and Asia as natural resource suppliers, disregarding the complete destruction of these territories' ecosystems. The current example of France and other countries actively exploiting their colonies and former controlled territories demonstrates the hypocrisy of the German Foreign Minister's call for supporting climate justice.

If the Western bloc were genuinely committed to reaching a satisfactory climate agreement for all countries at COP29, their level of representation would have been higher than the heads of relevant ministries who arrived in Baku. In fact, the Western bloc's efforts were focused on minimizing the costs of climate financing. The proposed level of $300 billion per year until 2035 does not reflect the needs of developing countries, which are significantly affected by the consequences of climate change.

Developing nations openly express this at COP29 – increased floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes cause great harm to developing countries, both due to their geographical location and their resilience to natural disasters. These catastrophes have become more frequent precisely because of the changing climate, for which the West is responsible. However, Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and others, are unwilling to fully acknowledge this responsibility.