Leaders at COP29 must listen to demands for climate justice by putting human rights at the heart of all decision making and commit to massively scaling up needs-based climate financing and a full, fast, fair, and funded phase-out of fossil fuels across all sectors, said Amnesty International ahead of the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan.

“The high-income countries who share the greatest responsibility for the climate crisis must negotiate in good faith to achieve an ambitious and adequate target and deliver on their commitments. They must also substantially increase financing for adaptation to the significant climate harm that’s already here and will worsen very quickly, and to the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage to help the people worst impacted by the effects of global heating.”

Amnesty International will have delegates at COP29 from 9 to 24 November, who will be available for interviews about the need to centre climate-action decisions in human rights, and the Azerbaijani government’s ongoing assault on civil society.

“In light of the inadequate human rights protections in the Host Country Agreement, states must also take steps to protect freedom of expression and peaceful protest for all participants at COP29 and to limit the pernicious influence of fossil fuel lobbyists who will be ubiquitous at COP.