At the UN climate conference in Baku, countries must agree on a new goal for international climate finance that truly meets the needs of developing nations, with public finance at its core, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said on Thursday. He said COP29 must be the “stand-and-deliver” COP, recognising that climate finance is critical to saving the global economy and billions of lives and livelihoods from the devastating impacts of climate change.
Addressing a virtual event hosted by the Brookings Institution, Stiell said, “At COP29 in Baku, all governments must agree on a new goal for international climate finance that truly responds to the needs of developing countries… It is not my job to prejudge what the new goal will look like. But it is clear public finance must be at the core.”
He added that as much of this finance as possible should be in the form of grants or concessional funding and made more accessible to those who need it most.
“And we must make climate cash count, wherever possible, leveraging more private finance and sending signals to financial markets that green is where the gains are,” he said.
At this year’s UN climate conference (COP29), countries are expected to agree on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), the new amount developed nations must mobilise every year starting in 2025 to support climate action in developing countries.
Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adopted in 1992, high-income industrialised countries are responsible for providing finance and technology to help developing nations combat and adapt to climate change.
These developed countries, including the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and EU member states such as Germany and France have historically benefited from industrialisation and contributed significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.
At COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, these nations pledged to provide USD 100 billion annually by 2020 to support developing countries.
However, this target has not been fully met, creating a significant financial gap that has eroded trust and hindered climate action in developing nations.
In May, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that developed countries had surpassed the USD 100 billion-a-year target by providing nearly USD 116 billion in climate finance to developing countries in 2022, with nearly 70 per cent of the money provided in the form of loans.
Stiell noted that the countries could decide “who pays and how much” at COP29 in Baku but cautioned, “We are not going there to renegotiate the Paris Agreement”, referring to efforts by some developed nations to broaden the list of countries contributing to climate finance, with Switzerland and Canada proposing criteria to expand the donor base.
Developing countries argue that discussions on expanding the contributor base go beyond the mandate for the NCQG and could derail negotiations on the new climate finance goal.
Some developed nations, led by the EU and the US, argue that the global economic landscape has changed significantly since the adoption of the UNFCCC in 1992. They suggest that wealthier nations that have emerged during this period, such as China and some Gulf states, should also contribute to the new climate finance target.
Developing countries view this as an attempt to shift responsibility away from those who have historically benefited from industrialization and contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions.
They argue that expecting them to contribute, especially when many are still grappling with poverty and inadequate infrastructure amid worsening climate impacts, undermines the principle of equity.
Stiell also stressed the importance of implementing mechanisms to track and ensure that promised funds are delivered.
“More work also has to be done to rapidly ramp up funding for adaptation and get international carbon markets working for everyone. We must fund a new generation of national climate plans.
“To protect the progress we made at COP28 and convert the pledges in the UAE Consensus — to triple renewable energy, double energy efficiency, boost adaptation, and transition away from fossil fuels — into real-world, real-economy results,” he said.
The UN climate change chief warned that the world is at a moment of profound fracture between and within nations.
“In times like these, there is a temptation to turn inward. A delusional belief that what happens in my neighbour’s backyard is not my problem or concern. If we go down this path, it will soon be game over in the world’s climate fight.”
