Climate talks call for $1.3 trillion a year for poor countries by the end of the decade

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Pay now or pay more to help poor countries cope with climate change, negotiators said Nov. 14, as experts say poor states could spend at least US$1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) a year by the end of this decade. He said he needed to switch to greener energy and protect against extreme weather.

Money is a central focus The results of the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan and the success of the summit will likely be judged by whether nations can agree on a new target for how much richer nations, development lenders and the private sector should provide to finance developing countries. climate action.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in early 2024 that the previous target of US$100 billion per year ending in 2025 had been met by the end of two years in 2022, but most of that was in the form of loans rather than grants. Receiving countries say it needs to change.

Setting the tone at the start of the day, a report from the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance said the target annual figure should rise to $1.3 trillion a year by 2035, or potentially more if countries drag their feet now. .

“Any shortfall in investment before 2030 will put additional pressure on the following years and create a steeper and potentially more costly path to climate stability,” the report said.

“The less the world achieves now, the more we will have to invest in the future,” he said.

Negotiators are working on draft texts of a deal behind the scenes, but so far the first-stage documents released by the UN climate agency only reflect the wide range of different views on the table and offer little insight into where the talks will go.

Some negotiators said the final text on finance was too long to work through and were waiting for a more refined version before talks to reach a deal could begin.