You've probably never even heard of the country that has put its hand up to lead COP29

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Ah, Moldova, with its sunny beaches (er, no, it is landlocked) and bustling capital city (if that’s what you’d like to call sleepy Chișinău). Ah, but it’s peaceful. Um, no, it is still rocked by the 1990 breakaway of Transnistria, a Russia-friendly sliver of land on its eastern flank. And how about its economy? Well, on a per-capita basis, it’s the second-poorest in Europe, eclipsed only by Ukraine.

But, heck, it has big ambitions — it has, according to sources and document seen by Reuters, put itself forward as a candidate for the presidency of next year’s UN climate summit (aka COP29). That said, it hasn’t offered to actually host the talks, sources told the outlet, an honor that is due to go to an East European country.

That fact has led to an awkward situation. Russia, now a pariah nation among most of its neighbors after its invasion of Ukraine, is opposing pretty much anyone.

Which may be why traditional Russian ally Serbia has also put up its hand, according to those Reuters sources. And, hey, they’d not only be president but also host the shindig! But that Russian ally thing might be an issue — under U.N. guidelines, the countries in the chosen region (Eastern Europe) must unanimously decide between themselves who gets the gig.

In other words, it’s all a big mess. After all, when a COP confab takes place, the location of the next one has pretty much always been chosen. “We have a very short time for any country that will be hosting. … One year is not enough,” Gayane Gabrielyan, Armenia’s deputy environment minister, told Reuters.

Which means speculation that Dubai will do double duty and host again next year. Or if there’s disagreement on that, it may end up in Bonn, Germany, where the UN’s climate secretariat, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is located.

In fact, it might be the Germans that sort it all out, with a spokesperson for the German foreign office said discussions were taking place among Eastern European countries to find a solution. “Germany is aware that, as seat of the UNFCCC, it has a particular responsibility and role to play under the rules of the global climate conferences,” the spokesperson added.

Moldova is no doubt holding a phone lines open.