Parties at the UN Cop 29 climate summit in Baku have dived into a new round of informal consultations tonight armed with a fresh, but still hefty, draft that few seem to have the time to read.
Country representatives are seeking to agree on a new climate finance goal for developing nations, following on from the current — broadly recognised as inadequate — $100bn/yr target. The new draft text still fails to bridge the huge divide between developed and developing countries on key issues such as an amount for the goal, the contributor base and what the funds should be used for.
"We must be honest, we believe that the current pace of work is too slow, we cannot afford to leave too much ground to be covered later in the summit," Cop 29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev said today.
Parties continue to stick to their positions. Developed countries have still not come forward with a number for the goal, and want the contributor base broadened. One observer noted that the possibility of the US leaving the Paris agreement is putting added pressure on the EU.
Developing countries remain broadly united in calling for climate public finance of over $1 trillion/yr. Options show that developing country parties seek a new finance goal that serves mitigation — actions to reduce emissions — adaptation and loss and damage. Adaptation refers to adjustments to avoid global warming effects where possible, while loss and damage describes the unavoidable and irreversible effects of such change.
Developed nations are also pushing for sub-targets of $220bn/yr for least developed countries (LDCs) and $39bn/yr for small island developing states (Sids), in which money for adaptation should come in the form of grants and highly concessional finance and funding for loss and damage "primarily in grants".
The multi-layered approach in the draft, mostly supported by developed countries, does not mention loss and damage. On broadening the contributor base, it has options calling on "parties in a position to contribute" or "all capable parties" to "mobilise jointly $100bn/yr for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries by 2035.
The UN climate body the UNFCCC works from a list of developed and developing countries from 1992 — delineating 24 countries plus the EU as developed — and many of these note that economic circumstances have changed in some countries, including China, over the past 32 years. China between 2013 and 2022 provided $45bn in climate finance to developing countries, equivalent to 6.1pc of climate finance provided by all developed countries in the period, according to think-tank WRI.
A few options in the multi-layered approach in the draft talk about "investments" and "investing trillions "from all sources, public, private, domestic and international".
"A commitment on investment undermines the principles of the Paris Agreement, shifting the burden of climate finance onto the private sector," Samoa's environment minister and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster said.
Some parties on both sides are calling for the reforms of multilateral development banks, key to leverage billions in private sector finance, to accelerate. But these issues are largely outside of the remit of the Cop, even though they may get a boost from the upcoming G20 leaders summit at the start of next week.
