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On the surface, the biggest stumbling block to the ongoing climate talks at COP29 in
Baku, Azerbaijan is the fact that negotiators remain a trillion dollars a year apart in
climate finance.
The Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that “developing countries, excluding China,
will need $1 trillion a year in foreign assistance by 2030 to wean off fossil fuels and
adapt to worsening disasters. This number rises to $1.3 trillion annually by 2035,
according to an expert economic assessment commissioned by the United Nations.”
COP stands for the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
At press time, three different figures are being bandied about, with no concrete figures
being put on the table yet by negotiators from developed nations. They are $440 billion,
$600 billion, and $900 billion.
Developing nations demand that rich nations foot the bill so that the former can cope
with the adverse effects of climate change, such as floods, stronger storms, droughts,
and rising sea levels. These climate impacts take their toll on the lives and livelihoods of
the most vulnerable populations, with an ever-increasing frequency and intensity, as the
planet continues to warm over unabated fossil fuel use.
The main argument for rich nations to foot the bill is the “polluter pays principle”
enshrined in the 1992 Rio Declaration, which, in essence, requires those who caused
environmental pollution to pay for it.
Since developing nations have contributed the least to climate change but still bear the
brunt of its impacts, developed nations that are the historic polluters have a primary duty
to assist the developing world through climate finance.
Included in this historic responsibility are the G20 nations that “are responsible for 77
percent of planet-heating gases being spewed,” according to a report by the Associated
Press.
The existing commitment of $100 billion a year in climate finance is being used to help
developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change through renewable energy
development, programs for low-emission pathways, disaster risk reduction and climate
change adaptation measures, and subsidies for climate-resilient agriculture and
sustainable infrastructure.
