Poorer nations hit back at COP29 offer of $250bn to tackle climate change

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Rich countries should take the lead in providing $250bn in climate finance for the developing world, according to a draft document released in the final hours of the UN COP29 summit, which was derided by poorer nations.

Almost 200 countries at the UN climate change summit in Baku are fighting over a new finance goal aimed at helping poorer countries deal with the effects of global warming, which is due to replace a $100bn target agreed more than a decade ago.

The latest document, put forward by the COP29 presidency of Azerbaijan and based on almost two weeks of negotiations, says there is a need for at least $1.3tn per year in climate finance for developing countries.

The initial proposed goal of $250bn a year by 2035 would be made up from a wide variety of sources, including public and private, bilateral and multilateral funding, including alternative sources, the draft says.

The indicated amount was widely viewed as an opening gambit, with the poorer countries vulnerable to climate change objecting strenuously. The G77 group of developing countries has called for a goal of at least $500bn.

A person close to the Indian delegation lashed out at wealthy donor countries for seemingly casting aside the commitments they had made to help finance developing countries’ transition under the landmark Paris agreement. “I do not see it [the promise] anywhere.”

This criticism was backed by the authors of an economics report used by many negotiators as a foundation for discussions. The amount was “too low and not consistent with delivery of the Paris Agreement”, they said.

Developed countries must provide at least $300bn a year by 2030, and $390bn a year by 2035, the Independent High-Level Expert Group led by economist Lord Nicholas Stern said. The targets were “feasible” but required more from rich countries, public finance institutions and the private sector.

But others said the document suggested there could be a final agreement in Baku, where the talks have been overshadowed by Donald Trump’s election and the stance of the petrostate host. The first week was marred by Argentina’s decision to withdraw its negotiators and outbursts from Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev about a commitment to oil and gas.

“There is no deal to come out of Baku that will not leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, but we are within sight of a landing zone for the first time all year,” said Avinash Persaud, a key architect of the Bridgetown agenda for finance institution reform, now an adviser at the Inter-American Development Bank.

A senior US official said that meeting the $250bn goal would require “extraordinary reach” into donor countries’ coffers given that meeting the smaller, previous goal already required “significant lift”. The new goal will require support from multilateral development banks and more mobilisation of private finance, on top of “ambitious bilateral action”, the official said.

Another flash point at COP29 remains the work needed to meet the COP28 agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. Some western countries expressed concern about the lack of focus on building on last year’s agreement. One western delegation said the proposal on cutting emissions was “so bad”.

Fossil-fuel producing countries may “bargain” for more climate finance in exchange for stronger language on implementing emission cuts in a final text over the weekend, said Alden Meyer, a senior associate at the independent think-tank E3G. “My assumption is there is a little more loose change down the sofa.”

A person close to the French negotiators rejected the idea from some developing countries that finance was the only priority at this COP. “We cannot give in on the need to exit fossil fuels . . . and to uncouple prosperity and economic development from green house gases.”

The COP29 presidency said it planned to make only “minor adjustments” to the latest draft text in the documents that will form the outcome of the UN climate summit due to wind up Friday. It urged countries to “intently” study what it described as a “balanced and streamlined package”.

Even as some ministers prepared to fly home on Saturday, negotiators in their teams were preparing to work beyond then to avoid a collapse of talks on key items ahead of the next COP in Brazil in 2025.