By Happy Mulolani
As the Conference of Parties (COP29) comes to a close in the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, more than 80 developing countries have intimated to developed countries for increased financing towards the initial US$100 million agreed upon – loss and damage pledge in 2009.
A week of negotiations from the various negotiators, including the Independent Association of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC), the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), and the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, proposes to resolve discussions around the New Collective Quantified Goal on Finance and achieve the $1.3 trillion to enable least developed countries to tackle various climate actions.
“A path to the Presidency of COP29 to definitively resolve discussions regarding the New Collective Quantified Goal on Finance and achieve the $1.3 trillion is needed to enable developing countries to undertake climate action and face its adverse effects.”
The proposal advanced by more than 80 developing countries susceptible to climate change is centred on extra effort to increase finance from the $100 billion agreed upon in 2009, which is now inadequate given the proliferation of climatic shocks affecting these countries. Instead, the call to action to effectively tackle climate change is to increase financing to USD$1.3 trillion per year.
The proposal, presented by more than 80 countries vulnerable to climate change, is based on making an additional effort to increase from the insufficient $100 billion agreed upon in 2009 to USD$1.3 trillion per year.
“These funds would cover the needs in the regions and develop necessary actions to counteract and adapt to the effects of climate change, and address loss and damage, which have exacerbated its impacts and the number of affected people on the planet.”
In what marks the end of COP29, climate change in developing countries’ mandate is to place a demand aimed at comprehensively transforming the “global financial system and apply measures to bridge the finance gap and meet the urgent needs of developing countries suffering the worst effects of climate change.”