UN climate talks hammer out US$300 billion to help poor countries

Sunday, 24 November 2024

Azerbaijan

Countries have agreed on a deal to inject at least US$300 billion (NZ$514 billion) annually into humanity’s fight against climate change, aimed at helping poor nations cope with the ravages of global warming at tense United Nations climate talks in the city where industry first tapped oil.

The US$300b will go to developing countries who need the cash to wean themselves off the coal, oil and gas that causes the globe to overheat, adapt to future warming and pay for the damage caused by climate change’s extreme weather.

It is not near the full amount of US$1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, but it is three times the US$100 billion a year deal from 2009 that is expiring.

Delegations said this deal is headed in the right direction, with hopes that more money flows in the future.

“Everybody is committed to having an agreement,” Fiji delegation chief Biman Prasad said as the COP 29 deal was being finalised. “They are not necessarily happy about everything, but the bottom line is everybody wants a good agreement.”

It is also a critical step toward helping countries on the receiving end create more ambitious targets to limit or cut emissions of heat-trapping gases that are due early next year.

It is part of the plan to keep cutting pollution with new targets every five years, which the world agreed to at the UN talks in Paris in 2015.

The Paris agreement set the system of regular ratcheting up of climate fighting ambition as a way to keep warming under 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. The world is already at 1.3C and carbon emissions keep rising.

Countries also anticipate that this deal will send signals that help drive funding from other sources, like multilateral development banks and private sources.

That was always part of the discussion at these talks — rich countries didn’t think it was realistic to only rely on public funding sources — but poor countries worried that if the money came in loans instead of grants, it would send them sliding further backward into debt that they already struggle with.

“The $300 billion goal is not enough, but is an important down payment toward a safer, more equitable future,” said World Resources Institute President Ani Dasgupta.

“This deal gets us off the starting block. Now the race is on to raise much more climate finance from a range of public and private sources, putting the whole financial system to work behind developing countries’ transitions.”

It is more than the US$250 billion that was on the table in the first draft of the text, which outraged many countries and led to a period of frustration and stalling over the final hours of the summit.

After an initial proposal of US$250 billion a year was soundly rejected, the Azerbaijan presidency brewed up a new rough draft of US$300 billion, that was never formally presented, but also dismissed roundly by African nations and small island states, according to messages relayed from inside.

Among those frustrated at the final deal were India’s representative, the BBC reported, who said the decision-making process was unfair and had excluded nations.

She called the US$300b agreed a “paltry sum”, saying “it is not conducive to climate action that is necessary to the survival of our country”.

In a statement after the agreement, Ralph Regenvanu, special envoy for climate change and environment for Vanuatu, also condemned what had been agreed.

“After two consecutive meetings hosted by nations whose economies depend on fossil fuel extraction, we continue to migrate away from holding global warming below 1.5C — the stated goal of these meetings and the 2016 Paris Agreement.

“The commitments made in Baku — the dollar amounts pledged and the emissions reductions promised — are not enough. They were never going to be enough. And even then, based on our experience with such pledges in the past, we know they will not be fulfilled.”

The several different texts adopted early Sunday morning, local time, included a vague but not specific reference to last year's Global Stocktake approved in Dubai.

Last year there was a battle about first-of-its-kind language on getting rid of the oil, coal and natural gas, but instead it called for a transition away from fossil fuels. The latest talks only referred to the Dubai deal, but did not explicitly repeat the call for a transition away from fossil fuels.

Countries also agreed on the adoption of Article 6, creating markets to trade carbon pollution rights, an idea that was set up as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement to help nations work together to reduce climate-causing pollution.

Part of that was a system of carbon credits, allowing nations to put planet-warming gasses in the air if they offset emissions elsewhere. Backers said a UN-backed market could generate up to an additional $250 billion a year in climate financial aid.

Despite its approval, carbon markets remain a contentious plan because many experts say the new rules adopted don’t prevent misuse, don’t work and give big polluters an excuse to continue spewing emissions.

“What they’ve done essentially is undermine the mandate to try to reach 1.5C,” said Tamara Gilbertson, climate justice program co-ordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network. Greenpeace’s An Lambrechts, called it a “climate scam” with many loopholes.

With this deal wrapped up as crews dismantle the temporary venue, many have eyes on next year’s climate talks in Belem, Brazil.

Additional reporting by Press reporters.