Climate: The $100 billion target for developing countries reached and exceeded May 30, 2024
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- May 29, 2024
- 3 min read
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Climate: The $100 billion target for developing countries reached and exceeded
According to the OECD, developed countries provided US$ 116 billion in 2022, a record increase of 30% in one year. They are two years behind in fulfilling an old promise that has become a driving force behind climate action.
Their failure to raise the money on time has undermined confidence in the climate negotiations, and the OECD report comes as nations race to set a more ambitious fundraising target by November.
In 2009, developed nations pledged to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help low-income countries invest in clean energy and deal with the worsening impacts of climate change.
More than a decade later, that target was finally met for the first time in 2022, with $115.9 billion raised, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported.
The OECD, which tracks official figures on climate finance pledges, said that climate finance from high-income countries - the biggest culprits in global warming so far - increased by around 30% compared to 2021 when $89.6 billion was raised.
“This strong performance demonstrates that developed countries are complying and taking serious action,” said a US State Department spokesperson.
Fraction of the need
Climate finance can come from governments in the form of bilateral aid, from multinational development creditors such as the World Bank, or the private sector.
Most of the $100 billion disbursed in 2022 was for climate action that limits the release of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, the OECD said, mainly in clean energy and transportation improvements.
The $100 billion target is nowhere near what experts say developing nations will need for renewable energy and adaptation measures, such as coastal defenses against rising seas.
A panel convened by the UN estimates that these countries - excluding China - will need $2.4 trillion a year by 2030 to meet their climate and development needs.
Climate finance is a thorny issue at the annual UN climate talks and negotiators have been working this year to try to set a new target to replace and go beyond the $100 billion target.
The hosts of this year's COP29 in gas-rich Azerbaijan have made the issue a priority and hope that an ambitious agreement will be signed during the summit in November.
“It's always essential to deliver on past promises, but even more so this year,” said COP29 president-designate Mukhtar Babayev.
Negotiators meet next week in Bonn for crucial mid-year talks, where the critical points of this new financial target will be resolved.
Reaching the $100 billion target was an “important step forward”, said Germany's special climate envoy Jennifer Morgan.
“I hope this can help create some confidence... in these negotiations that we take these commitments seriously,” she told AFP.
'Creative accounting'
Some parties want China and other major emerging economies to contribute, although there is disagreement over how much should be raised, how the money is managed, and who is entitled to it.
Many of the developing economies least to blame for the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming are among the most exposed to the costly and destructive effects of worsening weather extremes.
Some want their future climate action to depend on receiving financial aid.
India, for example, has proposed that developed countries provide $1 trillion in climate finance every year from 2025 - 10 times more than the current target.
Climate activist Harjeet Singh said the process was “riddled with ambiguities and inadequacies”.
“This is not the time for creative accounting or tax loopholes. Rich countries urgently need to step forward, end these smokescreens, and offer real and substantial financial support,” he said.
© 2024 AFP
Comments