Developing nations slam Cop29 agreement, call $300bn pledge insufficient

24 Nov 2024

Developing nations are leaving Baku with a climate finance deal that is a full trillion dollars less than called for before the conference.

‘In Baku, we saw the future of our planet and the dignity of countless lives diminished to the minimum, a concession to wealthy governments determined to evade their moral and financial responsibilities. What was presented as progress was, in reality, the lowest common denominator.”

These are the words of Andreas Sieber, Policy Lead at 350.org – an international environmental organisation – who was decrying the outcome of Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan and the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance that was a full $1-trillion short of what developing and most affected countries had wanted.

The final week of the conference, accordingly, ended with a landmark but contentious climate agreement. Intense negotiations, walkouts and a sense of urgency defined the summit as nearly 200 nations grappled with the critical challenge of climate finance for developing countries.

As the conference neared its conclusion, wealthy nations pledged to provide at least $300-billion annually by 2035 to help developing countries tackle climate adaptation and mitigation. While this marks a significant increase from the previous $100-billion target, critics argue it falls far short of the estimated $1.3-trillion developing nations need each year to effectively address climate change and its impacts.

Daily Maverick previously reported that ahead of his departure to Baku, South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Dion George said that “at least R1.3-trillion is needed” annually for developing countries to meet their climate targets.

Read more: South African negotiators to push for trillion-dollar deal at COP29

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) explains that in 2009, developed country parties to the UNFCCC agreed to mobilise $100-billion annually by 2020 to support climate action in developing countries.

In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, “Parties agreed to extend this goal out to 2025 and to set a new finance goal, from a floor of USD 100 billion per year, for after 2025 taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries.”

Debt burden fears

The agreement fails to mandate that the $300-billion be provided as grants, leaving open the possibility of loans – a concern for developing nations wary of deepening their debt burdens. Instead, the funding can come from a combination of public and private sources.

This agreement follows a long history of unmet financial promises from developed countries, including a previous commitment made in 2009 to provide $100-billion annually by 2020 – a target that was met only in 2022.

Fred Njehu, a Pan-African Political Strategist at Greenpeace Africa, said that “the Global North’s offer again isn’t just inadequate – it’s an insult to every African already suffering from climate disasters. This isn’t climate finance – it’s climate colonialism. While our continent burns, floods, and starves from a crisis we didn’t create, wealthy nations offer pennies while pocketing billions in fossil fuel profits.”

“This finance deal is a masterclass in historical injustice. It betrays climate justice and mocks the polluter pays principle. The same nations who built their wealth on fossil fuels … now expect us to shoulder the devastating costs of their actions with pocket change.

Amar Bhattacharya, Vera Songwe and Nicholas Stern, co-chairs of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, in a joint statement, said “our analysis shows that the NCQG, based on the components that it covers, should commit developed countries to provide at least $300-billion per year by 2030, and $390-billion per year by 2035.

“We believe that these targets are feasible and will require stepped-up direct bilateral finance from developed countries, much higher ambition on the part of the multilateral development banks, and improved private finance mobilisation.”

Read more: COP29’s final day — developing nations demand climate financing as wealthy countries remain hesitant

Jess Beagley, Policy Lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance – a consortium of more than 200 international health professional and health civil society organisations – said in a statement that “the $300-billion per year deal negotiated in Baku is weak, shortsighted and wholly inadequate to address the mounting threats of the climate crisis, and fails to protect the millions of lives on the line.”

Jeni Miller, the alliance’s executive director, added that “at COP29, the US and other developed countries failed to meet their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement to financially assist developing countries to deal with the devastating impacts of climate change.”

In a statement reacting to the outcome, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Inger Andersen said, “Climate crunch time is here. COP29 has delivered a hard-fought deal. This is at a time when science tells us that without action, climate impacts will only intensify further. COP29 has now secured a foundation on which we must now rapidly build. However, we must be clear, ambition and promises are only as good as the action and delivery that backs them up.” DM

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