$250 Billion Per Year By 2035? COP29 Draft Deal Leaves Developing Countries Shocked, Disappointed – News18

Last Updated:November 23, 2024, 01:09 IST

This is far short of the $600 billion per year in public grants that the G77, the biggest bloc of 130 developing nations, demanded from developed countries to meet the $1.3 trillion goal

After two weeks of intense negotiations, the COP29 presidency revealed the climate finance figures in its latest draft deal, leaving the developing countries shocked and disappointed.

The new five-page text released on the last day of the UN summit called on developed countries to lead with a contribution of just $250 billion annually by 2035 in climate finance to developing countries, as part of the broader goal of $1 trillion per year by 2035 for the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) which will come from all public and private sources.

This falls way short of what the developing countries had asked for. “The proposed $250 billion is simply the previous $100 billion goal adjusted for 6 per cent inflation by 2035. It is not ‘new, additional and transformational’, and a far cry from what the G77 has demanded. Deeply disappointing,” said Avantika Goswami, programme manager, Centre for Science & Environment (CSE).

The biggest developing nations bloc of 130 nations—G77+ China—had demanded at least $600 billion in public grants for the $1.3 trillion goal annually from the developed countries to replace the previous grossly insufficient target of $100 billion per year set in 2009. Climate policy experts also voiced concerns over the weak language of the text, which “calls on all actors to work together” to scale up finance to $1.3 trillion rather than holding developed countries accountable.

“Not only does this keep the core finance obligation subservient to the notional multi-layered goal but weakens it by replacing the role of governments with ‘actors’ and further diluting the sources of core finance by including private funds. The level itself is disappointing and is lower than even what G20 had estimated,” said RR Rashmi, distinguished fellow, TERI, criticising the proposed goal as “highly compromised”.

Furthermore, the $250 billion from developed countries can come from multiple sources—public, private, bilateral, and multilateral, including alternative ones. “This paltry sum includes loans and lacks the crucial commitment to grant-based finance, which is essential for developing nations to both address climate impacts and transition away from fossil fuels,” said Harjeet Singh from the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative.

‘A bad deal’: Global South

“The $1.3 trillion number is at best a sham. This is a bad deal for the developing world,” said Dr Vaibhav Chaturvedi, senior fellow, CEEW, highlighting that the investment in renewable energy technologies in developing countries was $544 billion in 2022 itself. “This figure should automatically reach beyond $1.5 trillion by 2035, accounting for the growth in the sector and inflation.”

Experts from the Global South also underscored that the text merely “acknowledges” the significant gaps in responding to loss and damage but fails to make any provision for it. The amount of climate finance is inadequate to meet the increasing costs of climate adaptation, mitigation, as well as loss and damage in the world’s most vulnerable countries.

No consensus in sight till last day

The draft deal also caters to the demand of the developed countries and invites “voluntary contributions” from developing countries through South-South cooperation or supplementing the goal set. Sehr Raheja, programme officer, CSE, pointed out that the text also offers no thematic sub-goals of mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage as part of the structure of the goal. “This is a heavily watered-down text, far from what is needed to call this COP a success,” she added.

The negotiations extended well into the night on Friday, the last day of the conference, as countries struggled to reach a consensus on the new climate finance target to replace the $100 billion annual goal set in 2009.