This year’s COP29 UN Climate negotiations are less than three months away. Yet, several countries have failed to achieve the summit’s biggest task. To agree to a new funding target to help developing countries to cope with climate change.
The U.N. climate body released the negotiations document on Thursday. It mentioned the split between nations on agreeing to the funding target. This is ahead of a meeting in Baku next month where negotiations will attempt to discuss some of the trickiest issues.
The document suggests seven options, reflecting countries’ competing positions, for a possible COP29 deal. The new target will replace wealthy nations’ current commitment to provide $100 billion each year in climate finance to developing countries.
Countries that are vulnerable and developing require a larger funding than $100 billion. Donors Canada and EU said that stretched national budgets was an unrealistic and huge jump in public funding.
The COP29 summit is scheduled in Azerbaijan in November.
One option in the document sets out a target for developed countries to provide $441 billion each year in grants, combined with an aim to mobilise a total $1.1 trillion in funding from all sources, including private finance, each year from 2025 to 2029.
That option reflects the position of Arab countries.
INCREASING FUNDING
Another proposal from the EU sets a global climate funding target of over $1 trillion annually. This includes domestic and private investments. The target would include a smaller share from countries with high greenhouse gas emissions and strong economic capabilities.
The EU has insisted that China, the world’s largest polluter and second-largest economy, contribute to this goal.
China is considered a developing country by the UN under a 1990s system. Beijing uses this as a dispute to brush off climate finance responsibilities.
Negotiators foresee the issue of payment responsibilities as a major obstacle to reaching a finance deal at COP29.
A different proposal, reflecting Canada’s stance, suggests adjusting the contributor list based on per-capita emissions and income. This change could include the UAE, Qatar, and others as contributors.
