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The new climate deal unveiled today at COP29 has not broken the bank, as time is running out for countries to reach a long-awaited multi-billion dollar deal.
The UN climate conference in Azerbaijan ends tomorrow, but the new plan only highlights the divisions as countries return to the negotiating table. “As for the text as a whole, I would not water it down – it is unacceptable in its current form,” said EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.
“I am sure that no ambitious country thinks this text is enough.” Nearly 200 countries are meeting in Baku hoping to agree on a new target to replace the $100 billion a year that rich countries have pledged to poor countries to fight climate change.
Most developing countries are seeking $1.3 trillion, most of it from public funds, although rich countries have rejected such proposals and insist that private funding helps meet the ultimate goal. The new document recognizes that developing countries must contribute at least “[X] billion dollars” annually, without specifying the exact figure required from Baku.
Ali Mohamed, president of the African Union, a major negotiating body, said the “main problem” was the lack of the necessary statistics. “This is why we are here … but we have not made any progress and we need developed countries to get involved in this issue urgently,” said Mohamed, who is also Kenya’s climate envoy.
Other sticking points – including who will contribute and how the money will be collected and distributed – are not resolved in the 10-page document. Many countries have also expressed concern that the commitment to phase out fossil fuels made at last year’s COP28 in Baku is being ignored. Ireland’s climate minister, Eamon Ryan, insisted that the financial negotiations are continuing and discussions are taking place behind closed doors.
“This text is not final, that is for sure. “It will be very different. But I think there is room for a broad agreement,” he told AFP. Norway’s climate minister also offered an optimistic view:
“The deadline is not yet here,” he told AFP.
The article echoes the broader stance and opposition from developed and developing countries that has persisted since the start of COP29 more than a week ago. Developed countries want all funding, including public and private investment, to be invested, and rich countries with no debt, such as China, to contribute to this.
Developing countries want the funding to come mainly from the budgets of rich governments in the form of grants or untied funds, not loans that add to national debt. Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Cluster at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said, “The new bill shows two irreconcilable boundaries.
“insult”
Hoekstra said that the European Union still needs clarity on which part of the agreement will contribute to the final financial goal. He said: “I am sorry to say that there is a lot of work ahead of us, the leaders and all those involved.
The EU and the United States, two of the biggest climate donors, have resisted pressure to put numbers on the table until the nature of the agreement is clear. “Not providing any figures for climate finance purposes is an insult to the millions of people on the front lines who are bearing the brunt of the impacts of climate change,” said Jasper Inventor of Greenpeace.
Mohamed Adow, a Kenyan climate activist, said developing countries “need to be monitored, but all we have now is a blank sheet of paper.” By 2035, developing countries, excluding China, are expected to need $1.3 trillion a year in external financial assistance to reduce emissions and build climate change resilience.
Joe Thwaites of the Defense Resources Council said that Azerbaijan, as the COP29 host, “should propose a third option that combines the two.” COP29 chief negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev told AFP last week that the rule of climate talks is that no one leaves “unhappy”.
