Climate finance has taken center stage at this year’s 29 th Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Azerbaijan. One promising new proposal to address these growing financial needs has generated huge interest—and significant criticism— since it was first released. The newest climate finance draft circulated at noon local time, or 9 AM CET. It wants to avoid the backlash that came with the first draft’s release.
The climate finance proposal was a first draft that sparked a firestorm of criticism on arrival. This represented a vague ‘X’ in place of a real dollar figure. Developing world activists shouted with the sense of immediacy. They highlighted their demands for at least over $1 trillion, or at least €950 billion, to address the climate emergency in a just manner. The new version focuses on increasing a goal of $250 billion by 2035. This ambitious target goes beyond the current $100 billion annual contribution that richer countries promised in 2009.
The proposed $250 billion would be filled from several buckets. This is on top of direct grants and investments into research from the private sector. This inclusive approach seeks to “unlock” more of the finance that’s needed to help developing countries afford to address the growing impacts of climate change. Taken together, the text points to a broader aspiration. It calls on all parties to work together and increase financial flows to these countries. This larger goal aims to raise $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 — from all public and private sources.
Fierce fights have followed, including for a climate finance text. Major negotiations focus on how much money developing countries should receive over the next few years. They zero in on the share of that funding that will come directly from rich governments.
The Azerbaijanic Presidency has celebrated the new climate finance text as a significant advance. They call it a “bold and streamlined” approach to addressing these critical issues. The proposed framework aims to incorporate “a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources.”
As those talks proceed, the rest of the world will be listening with great anticipation. The decisions made at COP29 will be pivotal in determining the scale and type of financial commitment for climate action. They should decide how to support those countries most impacted by climate change.
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