Developing nations require over $1tr every year by 2035 to address climate crisis

November 21, 2024 (MLN): Developing countries excluding China need $1 trillion a year by 2030 to combat global warming, as revealed by the COP29 draft released on Thursday.

This number will rise from $1.3tr annually by 2035, according to an expert economic assessment commissioned by the United Nations.

This foreign assistance is needed to combat global warming, but no consensus yet on funding commitments, as reported by APP.

This will be the focus as nations go back to the negotiating table with just a day to go until COP29 is supposed to conclude in Baku.

The draft reflects the broad and opposing positions of developed countries that are obligated to pay climate finance and the developing countries that receive it.

"The new finance text presents two extreme ends of the aisle without much in between," said Li Shuo, director of the China climate hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Ali Mohamed, the chair of the African Group of Negotiators, said the "elephant in the room" was the lack of a concrete number.

"This is the reason we are here, but we are no closer and we need the developed countries to urgently engage on this matter," said Mohamed, who is Kenya's climate envoy.

Rich countries have been under pressure to say how much they are willing to provide developing countries to wean off fossil fuels and build resilience against disaster.

The European Union and the United States, two of the biggest climate finance providers, had said they would not reveal a figure until the scope of any deal was much clearer.

"The fact there is no number specified for the climate finance goal is an insult to the millions of people on the frontlines bearing the brunt of climate change impacts," said Greenpeace's Jasper Inventor.

Mohamed Adow, a Kenyan climate activist, also lamented the lack of clarity around a figure.

"We came here to talk about money. The way you measure money is with numbers. We need a cheque but all we have right now is a blank piece of paper," said the founding director of think tank Power Shift Africa.

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