Rich nations of the world have set a new global target to channel $1.3 trillion of climate finance to developing countries by 2035, including a new core finance goal of $300 billion, which triples the previous $100 billion target.
A statement from the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP), which ended at the weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan, stressed that COP29 succeeded in getting the fund for loss and damage up and running, and ready to distribute the money as from 2025.
COP29 President, Mukhtar Babayev, said in a statement on Sunday, “The Baku Finance Goal represents the best possible deal we could reach. In a year of geopolitical fragmentation, people doubted that Azerbaijan could deliver. They doubted that everyone could agree. They were wrong on both counts.”
Before now, developed countries, which emitted the highest percentage of dangerous substances, had failed to fulfil their promises to less developed countries, like Nigeria, and, by extension, Africa, which released less than three per cent of total global methane.
Nigeria, under the ex-President Muhammadu Buhari administration, had pledged to hit NetZero in 2060, although it was unclear how it intended to get there, with the country still up to 85 per cent dependent on fossil fuels for its foreign exchange earnings.
The statement from the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, held November 11-22, added, “The COP29 presidency of Azerbaijan today announced the agreement of the Baku Finance Goal (BFG), a new commitment to channel $1.3 trillion of climate finance to the developing world each year.
“Success on the COP29 presidency’s top priority for the UN Climate Summit represents a significant uplift from the previous climate finance goal of $100 billion and will unlock a new wave of global investment.”
The statement said the Baku finance goal contained a core target for developed countries to take the lead in mobilising at least $300 billion per year for developing countries by 2035. It said this represented a $50 billion increase on the previous draft text, and was the product of 48 hours of intensive diplomacy by the COP29 presidency, paying special attention to supporting the least developed countries and small island developing states, with provisions on accessibility and transparency.
The breakthrough, according to COP29, was the result of months of intensive diplomacy to deliver some of the most complex and controversial tasks in multilateral climate action, marking a critical step in putting in place the means to deliver a pathway to 1.5C.
It said COP29 also ended the decade-long wait for the conclusion of Article 6 negotiations on high integrity carbon markets under the UN.
The statement said financial flows from compliant carbon markets could reach $1 trillion per year by 2050, with the potential to reduce the cost of implementing national climate plans by $250 billion per year.
It stressed that the years ahead will not be easy, saying the signs show that the challenges will only grow, and the ability to work together will be tested.
It added that the new collective quantified goal on climate finance was aimed at contributing to accelerating the achievement of Article 2 of the Paris Agreement of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.
According to the statement, this is in recognition that it would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change; increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and fostering climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emission development in a manner that does not threaten food production.
It highlighted that “costed” needs reported in nationally determined contributions of developing country parties were estimated at $5.1 trillion to $6.8 trillion for up until 2030 or $455 billion to $584 billion per year, while adaptation finance needs were estimated at $215 billion to $387 billion annually for up until 2030.
Besides, it called on all actors to work together to enable the scaling up of financing to developing country parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
The statement added, “It reaffirms Article 9 of the Paris Agreement and decides to set a goal, in extension of the goal referred to in paragraph 53 of decision 1/CP.21, with developed country parties taking the lead, of at least $300 billion per year by 2035 for developing country parties for climate action.”
It encouraged parties, in carrying out their functions as shareholders of multilateral development banks, to continue advancing efforts to promote an evolution agenda for bigger, better and more effective multilateral development banks in order to address global challenges and poverty eradication.
Emmanuel Addeh
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