Talks at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany, are coming to an end today and parties have little to show for their two weeks of negotiations on climate finance for developing countries.
Progress on agreeing a new climate finance target — to replace a pledge that was missed by developed countries to give $100bn/yr to developing countries by 2020 — was limited and there are still significant divisions among parties, think-tank E3G said today.
Details of the updated target must be finalised during the UN Cop 29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan later this year. But so far negotiators have remained entrenched in their positions on key issues such as how much finance should be provided, who should contribute, who should benefit or qualify as "particularly vulnerable" and the quality of the finance — loans over grants — along with the role of private finance.
Developed countries have not come forward with a number during the negotiations, despite being pressed repeatedly by developing nations to do so. The latter, including Saudi Arabia, India and African nations, are calling for at least $1 trillion-1.3 trillion/yr.
The US said that it supports a goal that is "fit for purpose" and "from a floor of $100bn/yr". The EU and other developed nations argue that certain high-emitting developing countries, such as China or Saudi Arabia, should shoulder some of the finance, thereby broadening the donor base. But China made clear that it has no intention of doing that. "Developing countries voluntarily support each other beyond our capacity and we have no intention to make your numbers look good," the Chinese negotiator said.
Pakistan's delegate rejected developed countries' proposals, which he said were not in line with the Paris Agreement, such as the obligation on developing countries to implement certain domestic measures in exchange for funding.
Australia called parties out on a "game of word-count to measure balance" and said the new target amount should be "the star at the top of the Christmas tree" because "it is dependent on the structure, types of sources, the timeframe and breadth of contributor base".
Meanwhile, Barbados pleaded for parties "to move forward" on the text as otherwise "more Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries will simply disappear from this gathering because we disappear from this planet".
Although UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell called for "serious progress" to be made on finance and for parties to move from "zero-draft to real options", these key issues will be left for top negotiators and ministers to tackle in Baku. The US election — which will take place a week before Cop 29 starts — is one of the biggest factors in moving the finance discussions forward, E3G policy adviser Tom Evans said.
Convergence
Consensus does seems to be forming on some issues, such as the need to make access to finance easier to least developed and vulnerable countries, discussing unsustainable debt and the cost of capital, and the need for more transparency — possibly in the context of the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). The framework obliges parties to draw up biennial transparency reports, with the first due at the end of the year.
The "very fundamental divide" between the two blocs on their perceptions around climate finance is underpinned by a lack of trust in the system, senior attorney Erika Lennon from the Center for International Environmental Law said. This is understandable given the time it took developed countries to fulfil their $100bn/yr pledge and the underwhelming performance so far of the different funding programmes, she added.
With neither camp ready to compromise in Bonn, it remains to be seen who will "give", Evans of E3G said.
