<
https://theconversation.com/cop29-climate-finance-deal-why-poor-countries-are-so-angry-244341>
"After a fortnight of bitter struggle, nearly 200 countries agreed a new goal
to raise money to tackle the climate crisis at Cop29, the 29th annual UN
climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Rich countries agreed to take the lead in paying US$300 billion a year to the
poorest nations by 2035 from a variety of financial sources (public, private,
between countries, and across multilateral sources like development banks).
This is less than a quarter of what developing countries asked for, and not in
the form of the no-strings-attached grants money that they need.
There is no consensus on how to define “climate finance” within the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN process for
negotiating an agreement to limit global warming. Developed countries prefer a
mélange of public and private funding sources, including loans and “debt swaps”
(reducing or forgiving a country’s debt in exchange for that country investing
money into projects that protect the environment or fight climate change).
Their preference is reflected in the final Cop29 decision.
These same developed countries are responsible for most of the greenhouse gas
emissions that are heating Earth to dangerous levels. Developing countries have
demanded a share of their immense wealth to help them cut emissions, adapt to
the impacts of a warming climate and address the consequences of existing
disasters (what is generally referred to as loss and damage). The UNFCCC
estimates that developing countries need US$5 trillion to US$6.9 trillion to
implement their national climate plans by 2030.
The original climate finance target was set in 2010 and is due to expire in
2025. This encouraged rich nations to funnel US$100 billion to the developing
world annually, but it was only met for the first time in 2022.
Negotiators from poor nations are right to be frustrated. While the latest UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report suggests that there is enough
money in the global economy to properly fund a green transition, the financial
system is systemically skewed against developing countries."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
