India has called for developed countries to provide "at least" $1 trillion/yr in climate finance to developing countries from 2025, in a submission to UN climate body the UNFCCC.
The finance should be "in line with the needs of developing countries" and "composed primarily of grants and concessional finance", according to the document. India's submission is in reference to the so-called new collective quantified goal (NCQG), the details of which are due to be decided at the UN Cop 29 climate summit in November in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Developed countries agreed in 2009 to provide a floor of $100bn/yr in climate finance to developing countries, between 2020 and 2025 — although they missed the target in 2020 and 2021. The goal was likely to have been met in 2022, the OECD said in November.
The new goal is due to begin in 2025, although the timeframe "needs to be 10 years", over 2025-35, India said. It "should have annual mobilisation targets for 2025-30 and 2030-35", to sync up with UNFCCC cycles such as countries' climate plans, India said. Climate plans — or nationally determined contributions (NDCs) — must be updated every five years under the Paris climate agreement, with the next round due for submission in 2025.
Although several other countries have submitted documents on the NCQG, India appears to be the first to put a number on it. Several submissions on the topic, published by the UNFCCC in December and January, suggest catalysing "trillions of dollars". This is in line with previous calls, as well as a G20 declaration in September last year, which said that $5.8 trillion-5.9 trillion is required before 2030 for developing countries to implement their climate plans.
Several developed countries have noted that private finance should also be mobilised, while Bangladesh, on behalf of the least developed countries group, stressed "the critical role that grant-based, public finance should have".
Developed countries pointed to the donor base. "We want to see more public finance from countries which have increasingly broader shoulders", the UK said. This is likely to be a reference to the list of developing and developed countries used in talks, which dates from 1992, when the UNFCCC was established. Developed nations often raise the issue of changed economic circumstances for some countries over that time.
Climate finance is likely to be the overriding theme at Cop 29.
