By Biswendu Bhattacharjee
Baku, Nov 24 (UNI) The 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) agrees to triple public finance to developing countries to fight climate disaster.
The 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) closed in Azerbaijan’s capital on Sunday with a new finance goal to help countries against climate disasters.
COP29 was scheduled to conclude on Friday, settling the demand of developing countries to have a New Collective Quantified on Climate Finance (NCQG) to the tune of 1.3 trillion USD, including 600 billion USD grants of public finance from the developed countries, but finally it was not.
The COP29 Presidency extended the negotiation for two days, and on Sunday morning, nearly 200 countries in Baku reached an agreement to triple public finance to developing countries, from the previous goal of USD 100 billion annually to USD 300 billion annually by 2035.
Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary in the Closing Plenary of COP29, said that the countries would secure efforts of all actors to work together to scale up finance to developing countries, from public and private sources, to the amount of USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
“This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country. But like any insurance policy, it only works if premiums are paid in full and on time. Promises must be kept to protect billions of lives,” Stiell stated.
It will keep the clean energy boom growing, helping all countries to share in its huge benefits: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all. The International Energy Agency expects global clean energy investment is set to exceed USD 2 trillion for the first time in 2024.
The new finance goal at COP29 builds on significant strides forward on global climate action at COP27, which agreed an historic Loss and Damage Fund, and COP28, which delivered a global agreement to transition away from all fossil fuels in energy systems swiftly and fairly, triple renewable energy, and boost climate resilience.
COP29 also reached agreement on carbon markets, which several previous COPs had not been able to achieve. These agreements will help countries deliver their climate plans more quickly and make faster progress in halving global emissions this decade, as required by science.
Stiell also acknowledged that the agreement reached in Baku did not meet all parties’ expectations, and substantially more work is still needed next year on several crucial issues and added, “No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work to do.”
The finance agreement at COP29 comes as stronger national climate plans (Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs) become due from all countries next year. These new climate plans must cover all greenhouse gases and all sectors to keep the 1.5°C warming limit within reach.
COP29 saw two G20 countries—the UK and Brazil—signal clearly that they plan to ramp up climate action in their NDCs 3.0, because they are entirely in the interests of their economies and peoples, Stiell added.
