Developing nations blast $404 billion COP29 climate deal as insufficient

BAKU - Countries at the COP29 summit in Baku adopted a US$300 billion (S$404 billion) global finance target to help poorer nations cope with the impacts of climate change, a deal roundly criticised by its intended recipients as woefully insufficient.

The agreement, clinched in overtime at the two-week conference in Azerbaijan’s capital, was meant to provide momentum for international efforts to curb global warming in

a year destined to be the hottest on record

.

Instead, it left developing countries frustrated.

“I regret to say that this document is nothing more than an optical illusion,” Indian delegation representative Chandni Raina told the closing plenary session of the summit minutes after the deal was gavelled in on Nov 24.

“This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face.”

UN climate chief Simon Stiell acknowledged the two weeks of excruciating negotiations that led to the agreement, but hailed the outcome as an insurance policy for humanity.

“It has been a difficult journey, but we’ve delivered a deal,” he said after the agreement was adopted.

“This deal will keep the clean energy boom growing and protect billions of lives. It will help all countries to share in the huge benefits of bold climate action: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all.

“But, like any insurance policy, it works only if the premiums are paid in full, and on time.”

The agreement replaces rich countries’ previous commitment to provide US$100 billion per year in climate finance – a goal that was met two years late, in 2022, and which expires in 2025.

The COP29 climate conference had been due to finish on Nov 22, but ran into overtime as negotiators from nearly 200 countries struggled to reach a consensus on the climate funding plan for the next decade.

Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege said: “We are leaving with a small portion of the funding climate-vulnerable countries urgently need. It isn’t nearly enough, but it’s a start.”

At one point, delegates from poor and small island nations walked out of talks in frustration over what they called a lack of inclusion, and amid concerns that fossil-fuel-producing countries were seeking to water down aspects of the deal.

The summit cut to the heart of the debate over the financial responsibility of industrialised countries, whose historical use of fossil fuels has caused the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions, to compensate others for the damage wrought by climate change.

It also laid bare the divisions between wealthy governments constrained by tight domestic budgets and developing nations reeling from the costs of worsening storms, floods and droughts.

Countries also agreed on Nov 23 on rules for a global market to buy and sell carbon credits that proponents say could mobilise billions more dollars into new projects to help fight global warming, from reforestation to deployment of clean energy technologies. 

Countries are seeking financing to deliver on the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial levels – beyond which catastrophic climate impacts could occur.

The world is currently on track for as much as 3.1 deg C of warming by the end of this century, according to the 2024 UN Emissions Gap Report, with global greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use continuing to rise.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said of the COP29 deal: “I had hoped for a more ambitious outcome... But this agreement provides a base on which to build.”

The Nov 24 deal failed to set out detailed steps for how countries will act on the 2023 UN climate summit pledge to transition away from fossil fuels and triple renewable energy capacity this decade. Some negotiators said Saudi Arabia had attempted to block such a plan during the talks.

US climate adviser John Podesta said: “There’s definitely a challenge in getting greater ambition when you’re negotiating with the Saudis.”

A Saudi official did not immediately provide comment.

What counts as a developed nation?

The roster of countries required to contribute – about two dozen industrialised countries, including the US, European nations and Canada – dates back to a list decided during UN climate talks in 1992.

European governments have demanded that others join them in paying, including China, the world’s second-biggest economy, and oil-rich Gulf states.

The agreement also includes a broader goal of raising US$1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2035 – which would include funding from all public and private sources, and which economists say matches the sum needed to address global warming.

Securing the deal was a challenge from the start.

Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory in November has raised doubts among some negotiators that the world’s largest economy would pay into any climate finance goal agreed in Baku. Trump, a Republican who takes office in January, has called climate change a hoax and promised to again remove the US from international climate cooperation.

US President Joe Biden congratulated the COP29 participants for reaching what he called a historic agreement that would help mobilise needed funds, but said more work was needed.

“While there is still substantial work ahead of us to achieve our climate goals, today’s outcome puts us one significant step closer. On behalf of the American people and future generations, we must continue to accelerate our work to keep a cleaner, safer, healthier planet within our grasp,” Mr Biden said in a statement.

Western governments have seen global warming slip down the list of national priorities amid surging geopolitical tensions, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and expanding conflict in the Middle East, and rising inflation.

The showdown over financing for developing countries comes in a year that scientists say is destined to be the hottest on record. Climate woes are stacking up in the wake of such extreme heat, with widespread flooding killing thousands across Africa, deadly landslides burying villages in Asia, and drought in South America shrinking rivers.

Developed countries have not been spared.

Torrential rain triggered floods in Valencia, Spain, in October that left more than 200 dead, and the US so far in 2024 has registered 24 billion-dollar disasters – just four fewer than in 2023. REUTERS