Compromise deal reached at COP29 climate talks for $300 billion a year to poor nations
Countries have agreed on an agreement to inject at least US$300 billion a year into humanity’s response to climate change, aiming to help poor countries cope with the severe damage caused by global warming. United Nations climate talks In the city where oil was first extracted industrially.
The $300 billion will go to developing countries that need the cash to wean themselves off dependence on coal, oil and gas that is causing global overheating, adapt to future warming, and pay for the damage caused by climate change. climate change extreme weather. That’s far from the full $1.3 trillion demanded by developing countries, but it is three times the $100 billion a year deal set to expire in 2009. Delegations said the deal was moving in the right direction and hoped more funds would flow in in the future.
“Everyone is committed to reaching a deal,” Biman Prasad, head of the Fiji delegation, said when the deal was finalized. “They’re not necessarily happy with everything, but the bottom line is everyone wants a good deal.”
It is also a key step in helping countries on the receiving end set more ambitious targets to limit or reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases due early next year. It’s part of a plan to set new targets every five years to continue reducing pollution, which the world agreed to at UN talks in Paris in 2015.
The Paris Agreement sets out a regime to regularly step up ambitions on climate change, aiming to keep temperature rises to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Global temperature has reached 1.3 degrees Celsius Carbon emissions continue to rise.
Countries also expect the deal to send a signal that could help boost funding from other sources, such as multilateral development banks and private sources. This is always part of the discussion in these talks – rich countries believe it is unrealistic to rely solely on public funding sources – but poor countries worry that if funding comes from loans rather than grants, it will set them back further. into the debt they were already mired in.
“The $300 billion goal is not enough, but it is an important down payment toward a safer and more equitable future,” he said. world resources institute President Ani Dasgupta. “This agreement gives us a starting point. Now we are racing to mobilize more climate finance from a range of public and private sources, allowing the entire financial system to support developing countries’ transition.”
That’s more than the $250 billion proposed in an initial draft of the text, which angered many countries and led to frustration and a standstill in the final hours of the summit. According to insiders, after the initial proposal of $250 billion per year was roundly rejected, Azerbaijan’s president drafted a new rough draft of $300 billion, which was never formally proposed but was also met with resistance by African countries and small businesses. Total rejection by island nations. .
Several different texts adopted in the early hours of Sunday included vague but unspecific references to the global stocktake approved in Dubai last year. Last year there was an unprecedented language battle about moving away from oil, coal and gas, but instead it called for moving away from fossil fuels. The latest talks only mentioned the Dubai deal but stopped short of explicitly reiterating calls to divest from fossil fuels.
Countries also agreed to adopt Article 6 to create a trading market for carbon pollution rights, an idea that would serve as 2015 Paris Agreement Help countries work together to reduce the pollution that contributes to our climate. Part of that is a carbon credit system that allows countries to put planet-warming gases into the air if they offset emissions elsewhere. Supporters say a U.N.-backed market could generate up to an additional $250 billion a year in climate financial aid.
Despite the approval, the carbon market remains a controversial scheme as many experts say the new rules adopted do not prevent abuse, do not work and would give large polluters an excuse to continue pumping out emissions.
“What they’re doing is essentially undermining efforts to get to 1.5,” said Tamara Gilbertson, coordinator of the Climate Justice Project. Aboriginal Environmental Network. Greenpeace’s Ann Lambrechts called it a “climate hoax” with many loopholes.
As crews dismantle the temporary site and the deal is completed, many have their sights set on next year’s climate talks in Belém, Brazil.
