With just a few hours to go before a draft text on a new climate finance goal for developing countries is due at the UN Cop 29 climate summit, there is still "radio silence" from developed nations and an absence of plans, said Adonia Ayebare, chair of the group of 77 (G77) and China negotiating group.
Parties must agree at Cop 29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) — a new climate finance target — building on the current $100bn/yr that developed countries agreed to deliver to developing countries over 2020-25.
There is a strong hope that the forthcoming text will clearly define financial commitments detailing the amount, quality and mechanism for delivery, Ayebare said.
A perfect text does not exist, he said, adding that developing countries have already put forth a figure that reflects their needs. They are broadly calling, for 1.3 trillion/yr while developed countries have not indicated an amount. "We need a figure for the headline of the text [in trillions], the rest will follow."
The EU today insisted that the precise number for the goal will depend on agreement on other issues, including progress on mitigation and financing structure.
In response to a question about uncorroborated rumours that developed countries may be considering a figure of $200bn/yr, Bolivia's negotiator Diego Pacheco said: "Is this a joke?"
Developed country representatives have so far refuted this figure, or that they have settled on an amount.
The "super red line" for the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) group is to not reinterpret or rewrite the Paris Agreement, said Pacheco, representing the group. The NCQG should be grounded in the mandate of the Paris accord, which states finance should flow from developed to developing countries. "Negotiations don't need to reopen the Paris agreement, but we can look at another area [such as] voluntary contributions for example, but that comes after the headline [figure], Ayebare said.
Pacheco also talked about developed countries' attempts on mitigation, for example, to "move from the facilitative nature of the Paris Agreement to a prescriptive, intrusive mitigation… cherry-picking some elements of the [global stocktake]," he added. The EU and other developing nations are pushing for language on transitioning away from all fossil fuels that was included in the outcome of Cop 28 in Dubai last year to be included in this year's outcomes.
