When it comes to climate aid for developing countries, there is little common ground a month before the World Climate Conference in Baku.
“Despite some optimistic statements about reconciliation, states’ positions are still far from one another,” said Imal Iskandar Ersini Vernoit, co-founder and president of the Climate and Development Think Tank. COP29 will be held in Baku from November 11 to 22. A new climate finance target is to be set after 2025.
2.4 trillion dollars per year
In 2009, it pledged $100 billion (91.43 billion euros) to developing countries in government funds and private sector investments by 2020, the latest in the fight against climate change. However, according to experts, this amount is no longer sufficient considering the increasing global warming. According to UN estimates, about $2.4 trillion will be needed by 2030 to make the necessary transition in developing and emerging countries.
Industrialized countries have yet to say how much they are willing to pay in the future. “It’s outrageous that just weeks before COP29, developed countries still haven’t said how much money to allocate to the new funding target,” said Mariana Paoli of the development agency ChristianAid.
Climate protection and compensation
Another point of contention in the negotiations is that international climate aid has so far mostly been given in the form of loans. Developing countries complain that their debt is increasing due to this. They also demand that a “loss and damage” clause be taken into account in the new contract. Climate aid should therefore be used not only for climate protection measures and prevention of climate-related damages, but also for dealing with climate-related damages and losses that have already occurred.
Rebecca Thiessen of the CAN Climate Alliance said it was “positive” that industrialized countries had talked about an amount in the trillions, not the billions, during the preliminary talks in Baku. “The level of demand was recognized, but no numbers were put on the table,” Thiessen criticized. (APA)
