Intense Negotiations In COP29 To Establish A New Financial Target

In the UN climate conference of parties – COP 29, parties (countries) were expected to agree to a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance from a floor of $100 billion per year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries.

The third day of COP29 was marked by intense negotiations to establish a new financial target to succeed the existing $100 billion annual commitment, which is set to expire in 2025.a UN-backed report chaired by finance heavyweights Amar Bhattacharya, Vera Songwe and Nicholas Stern out today. The trio agree with G77 countries that $1.3 trillion a year needs to be injected into developing countries by the 2030s. They say public (best for adaptation and resilience) and private (best for clean energy) sources can cover this, and call on richer countries to pony up their share.

This isn’t simply a story about developed countries coughing up. “The large and rapid scale-up of finance to support a big investment push can only be achieved by harnessing all pools of finance,” the report says, pointing to multiple pools of cash including levies on airlines and shipping, cooperation between developing countries, carbon taxes and the like.

The conference schedule was extended as parties (countries) remained locked in talks over key aspects such as the quantum of finance, sources of funding, and mechanisms for distribution. The negotiations over the draft, which reflects inputs from various stakeholders, including developed and developing countries, will seek to balance the diverse interests and priorities present at the conference. Ultimately, the NCQG should be aligned with the needs of developing countries and should amount to at least USD 1 trillion per year, composed primarily of grants and concessional finance. The end game is a collective goal (hopefully) of climate action at a scale hitherto unforeseen. This is the strategic, urgent and real-time deliverable that NCQG has to be held accountable to. Slim hopes rest on the G20 this weekend to sharpen some of those tools.

Climate action will not take place as a standalone, nor will political framing. To enhance international trust and cooperation, negotiators need to signal to both member states and the private sector that these measures will not fall short like the last $100 bn pledge did.

Evidence shows the nature and type of finance matters. Across options and sub-options, the proposals when taken together need careful thinking through. The multiple references in the text to grants and concessional finance is welcome.

The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist & a communications professional in the field of climate and energy