BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 12. As part of COP29 in Baku, Trend News Agency proudly presents COP for Hope, a special project offering an unparalleled platform to hear from world leaders and trailblazers in politics, economics, science, and ecology, all united by a shared commitment to addressing today’s pressing climate challenges.

In an exclusive interview with Trend, Felchesmi Jossen Mramba, Permanent Secretary of Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy, outlined his country's expectations for COP29, stressing the critical role of financing and action in achieving climate goals.

"We have a lot of expectations for this meeting," Mramba shared, emphasizing that this meeting is mainly focusing on financing. "We believe that for the world to be able to achieve what we are planning in terms of climate support, it's very important to have facts".

He expressed hope that this fact-based approach, along with genuine commitments from participating countries, will pave the way for substantial progress on climate goals. "With this focus on facts, and hoping that the parties will be faithful to their commitments, we may be able to achieve what we are planning right now," he said.

A core priority for Tanzania at COP29 is promoting "green cooking", a shift toward sustainable cooking methods that address both environmental and health challenges. "Tanzania is coming here to push the idea of green cooking for Tanzania as a country, but also for Africa," the official said.

To further this goal, Tanzania will host a side event on November 12th, focusing on the role of green cooking in combating climate change. "In that side event, we will focus on the importance of green cooking as part of addressing climate change issues," he explained. 

By placing green cooking on the COP29 agenda, the permanent secretary hopes to foster ongoing discussions on the topic. "If this meeting will be able to set the agenda of green cooking as an ongoing agenda for the next meetings to come, we will be able to safeguard our environment," he stated.

Mramba also addressed financing mechanisms, particularly the need to simplify access to carbon financing. "One of the financing mechanisms that has been spoken about a lot is carbon financing," he said. Despite its potential, he noted that knowledge of carbon financing remains limited, which hampers accessibility for countries like Tanzania.

"We believe it’s high time that we simplify the way countries can access carbon financing. Simplify whatever means to access the money," he urged, warning that without such efforts, carbon financing would fail to reach the communities that need it most.

Reflecting on past COP commitments, Mramba highlighted the need for tangible action on the Loss and Damage Fund, a topic discussed at COP28 but one that has seen limited follow-through. "Last year in COP28, a lot was spoken about loss and damage, but we have not seen a lot happening in actuality," he observed. For COP29, Tanzania’s goal is clear: "Our expectation is that we’ll have less talk and more action," Mramba asserted. "It’s only by doing so that we can really attain the intentions of this COP". By Maryana Ahmadova, Trend News Agency