Negotiators insist on “convergence” on the structure of climate finance targets after 2025, but disagreements remain over who should contribute and how much.
Governments have made progress on how to structure a new global climate finance target, but there are still wide differences on who should fund it and how large the target should be. remains, negotiators chairing U.N. negotiations said on Wednesday.
Ministers met in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to discuss new funding targets for developing countries to tackle climate change from 2025 onwards. An agreement is expected to be reached by the end of the COP29 climate summit in Baku in late November.
At the start of talks on Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said there were “positive signs that convergence on the structure of objectives may be on the way.”
Negotiator Zaheer Faqir, co-chair of UN talks on the goal, said that while “parties remain divided on some of the core issues,” “substantial progress has been made on the structure of the goal.” He added,
Another co-chair, Australian Fiona Gilbert, called for the goal to include both public climate financing and mobilization of private finance to developing countries, either as a single figure or as two separate figures. “Many people agree” that it should be done, he said.
Gilbert said some governments have set smaller fiscal or “core” targets on total investment flows to developing countries or global investment flows for climate action for all countries. It is hoped that this will be complemented by additional broader objectives.
He said some countries are pushing for more specific sub-goals, such as dedicating a certain amount of money to helping developing countries adapt to more extreme weather events and rising sea levels. .
The structure of the new joint quantitative goals (NCQG) will not be finalized until all aspects of the goal are finalized at COP29, and some resistance to this proposed structure remains. Chinese negotiators today called China “overly complex” and criticized its reliance on the private sector.
Ambitious or realistic?
Developed and developing countries remain divided over the size of the goal and which countries should contribute.
Developing countries said on Wednesday that the target should be large enough to meet climate action needs, proposing a figure of $1 trillion to $2 trillion a year.
But rich countries have not proposed any numbers other than to say it should be at least as large as the previous goal of $100 billion a year, as already specified in the Paris Agreement. , this goal was achieved only two years after the Paris Agreement target year. 2020.
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John Podesta, the US special envoy for climate change, said in Baku that the “inner layer”, or fiscal element, of the goal “must be ambitious and reasonable, just like the $100 billion goal was, but It has to be realistically achievable.”
He said the total funding needed would be “well over $1 trillion,” comprising private, philanthropic, domestic and international funding provided by all countries. It added that the “outer layers” of the goal needed to be included. public finance.
The Swiss negotiator said: “Ambition is not just about numbers. Ambition also means that goals are achievable if we come together and do our best to get there.” “To do so, political and economic realities must be taken into account.”
He said the “unrealistic” targets “make it very difficult to persuade the Treasury, development agencies and other stakeholders to make every effort to make the maximum possible contribution to achieving the goals.” He added that failing to meet the targets risks undermining the government’s credibility. United Nations climate system.
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Meanwhile, Philippine negotiators said the NCQG would be worth at least $1.3 trillion and would “require significant support from public funds.” “Only in this way can we close the glaring funding gap in climate action and address the challenges that disproportionately affect us,” she added.
A Chinese negotiator said developed countries “need to express their intention to bring the deal to the negotiating table.”
Who should pay?
The United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) currently divides countries into two broad camps: developed countries, which are obligated to provide climate finance, and developing countries, which are entitled to receive it.
Developed countries such as the US, UK, Japan and EU member states argue that the classification, created in 1992, has become outdated due to changes in the global economy. They point out that some developing countries, such as Saudi Arabia and China, have become much wealthier and emit far more greenhouse gases than they did back then.
Japanese negotiators said the ambitious NCQG “cannot be achieved with public funds from developed countries alone.”
Swiss negotiators said that if environment and climate ministers from developed countries could say “we are doing our best and everyone is contributing,” it would help convince finance ministries and parliaments to contribute more. Ta.
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However, developing countries have not expressed support for efforts to expand public funding for climate finance, and several targeted countries have expressed strong opposition to it.
“We need to stick to what we have already agreed to,” a Chinese negotiator said, adding that “any attempt to change the rules or tighten obligations to developing countries is contrary to the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC.” Ta.
The Arab Group and Singapore statement agreed with China that the list of government contributors should not be expanded.
The Paris Agreement “sets up” hierarchies
Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s special envoy for climate change, reassured these countries that “this does not change the status of any country” under the UN climate change regime and that “you can both contribute and receive at the same time.” I tried to make it happen.
Brazil’s Climate Change Secretary Ana Toni said Article 9 of the Paris Agreement states that developed countries are “obliged” to provide climate finance and encourage developing countries to do the same “on a voluntary basis.” , he said, requiring developed countries to “take the initiative.” Climate Finance”. “There are three layers already set up,” she said.
Commenting on the ministerial meeting in Baku, Teresa Anderson, ActionAid International’s global leader on climate justice, said talk of a “multi-layered approach” to climate finance by developed countries is a “new climate finance”. “This is the norm in developed countries’ efforts to count financing and private investment.” goal”.
“If possible, rich countries would probably want to count the sun, the moon, and even grandpa’s old socks as climate finance,” she added in a statement, instead offering “trillions of dollars in much-needed subsidies.” requested to provide. .
(Reporting by Joe Lo; Editing by Megan Loring)
