Rich countries have pledged $300 billion a year in aid, but developing countries that need help to build sustainable energy and adapt to climate change say they once again felt pressured to accept an incomplete deal.
After spending two weeks talking vaguely about political arguments, but without explaining why they are spending trillions of dollars a year on fossil fuel subsidies, developed countries at COP29 have finally said they will increase climate spending to help developing countries from the current commitment of $100 billion. per year to $300,000 per year by 2035.
The money will help developing countries build sustainable energy and adapt to climate change on a warming planet. But it is far from what they asked for, and far from what is needed.
A 2021 landmark report from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change showed developing countries need up to $5.8 trillion by 2030 to deal with global warming where they have done little.
The climate finance agreement was concluded at 3 am Sunday morning in Baku, long after the 6 pm Friday scheduled end of the meeting, and after some participants had already left the negotiations at the Olympic Stadium. Some delegates arrived for the last day of talks with their suitcases, cooling off in public toilets and looking for food as the rations ran out. It was the third year in a row that the talks went into overtime, again raising questions about whether the current format is appropriate.
At the COP last year in Dubai, discussions were extended when countries argued over the exact wording of the line on the transition from fossil fuels in energy systems, the first time in 30 years that fossil fuels were directly mentioned in the UNFCCC document. Last year, at COP27 in Egypt, it also took some time to reach an agreement on the loss and damage fund that aims to compensate developing countries for the economic, cultural and social damage that is already happening – unlike this year’s money to prepare for the future. .
In a statement after the closing ceremony in Baku, UNFCCC Secretary-General Simon Stiell called the new funding goal “an insurance policy for people, amid worsening climate conditions in all countries.”
“But,” he added, “like any insurance, it only works if the premiums are paid in full and on time.” Promises must be kept to save billions of lives. “
Stiell also said the final agreement shows that the UNFCCC continues to make progress on the global climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement, which includes a section detailing the expectations of rich countries, which have contributed to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. smoke, will help developing countries solve growing problems.
Some foreign experts have said that the result simply prevented the failure altogether. Developing countries had asked for more money, faster: up to $1.3 million a year by 2030.
“The climate conference in Baku was not a success, but it largely avoided a political disaster,” said Ottmar Edenhofer, climate expert and co-director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. He said the difficult COP29 talks show that other negotiation formats are needed to solve the climate crisis.
The $300 billion target is “too little, too late,” added Johan Rockström, an Earth system scientist and co-director of the Potsdam Institute. With global emissions still increasing, he said, climate costs are about to rise even further.
“We can’t wait for public funding for climate change another 10 years, by which time loss-and-damage costs will have gone through the roof,” he said. Eliminating some of the worst climate and social damage requires a full focus on climate finance and emissions reductions, and redirecting “the global economy away from oil growth.”
The comments from leaders of developing countries and non-governmental organizations were even more critical, some saying they felt pressured to accept the outcome of COP29. The pledged money “is not enough to solve the global climate crisis,” said Harjeet Singh, director of international cooperation with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, which has been exploring diplomatic options outside of the UNFCCC’s urgent framework. the elimination of fossil fuels is required.
Mr. Victor Menotti, who closely monitored the involvement of the US in the negotiations as an observer of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, said that the results show the continuation of the “my way or the great way” of the climate department carried out by the US.
“U.S. State Department officials have demanded reductions from developing countries but have refused to deliver” what these countries have said is necessary to reduce emissions. He also said that the United States has continued to undermine legal obligations under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, “leaving a shameful legacy of climate injustice around the world under the leadership of Biden.”
A prepared statement issued by the head of the United States on these negotiations said that it has been difficult to achieve the current financial goals, and that the new goal needs “to be ambitious and extraordinary, including financial agreements, more money from international development banks. and a major effort to collect private funds.”
But the US will probably have nothing to do with it within the next four years. President Donald Trump says he will pull the country out of the Paris Agreement again, after doing so in his first term.
Marshall Islands climate representative Tina Stege said small island nations came to COP29 in good faith, with the security of their communities and the well-being of the world at stake.
“But we have seen the worst political opportunity here at this COP, playing games with the lives of vulnerable people around the world,” he said, accusing the fossil fuel interests of trying to block progress.
“We are leaving with a small portion of the money that countries in need urgently need,” he said. “It’s not enough, but it’s a start, and we’ve made it clear that these funds should come with fewer obstacles to reach those who need them the most… Countries seem to have forgotten why we’re all here. It is to save lives.”
The urgency to rush climate aid was underscored by an unprecedented sequence of six tropical cyclones that hit the Philippines and killed at least 171 people during the Baku talks.
Mary Lyons, an Ojibwe chief and spiritual advisor from Minnesota who attended COP29, said she thinks it will be difficult for the world to move forward until people rethink fundamental ideas about their relationship with nature and each other.
“As a spiritual leader, I must say that the four things have no prejudice against anyone, anything on this earth,” he said.
“We all have the same address. It is called Mother Earth. We all went through water when we were born. We took our first breath. We felt the fire and the heat. We have planted and we are fed by the Earth.
“So one thing we must first look at is division, division, and the play of people against people, property and property, wealth and wealth,” he said. “You can’t buy into that. You have to be the one who stands in the middle, staying calm and saying, ‘This isn’t right.’
–Bob BerwynInside Climate News