Cop29, the finance summit ends with little money and much discontent
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The climate finance summit (1) stops at 300. At the UN conference on climate change, the Cop29 that ended a few days ago in Baku, industrialized countries committed to financing the global fight against the climate crisis in developing countries by mobilizing only 300 billion dollars a year by 2035, within a vague goal of 1.300 billion that should be reached through the contribution of public and private actors. Developing countries and those most affected by climate disasters had asked for at least 1000 billion dollars a year.
Money deal leaves vulnerable countries unhappy
The Courtauld Commitment agreement XNUMX "Calls on all actors to work together to enable the increase of financing to countries Parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least USD 1,3 trillion per year by 2035".
In past years Industrialized countries had agreed to pay 100 billion in climate finance per year by 2020; the figure was reached only later but with various controversies because the amounts were reached mainly through loans and not through grants.
Now the agreement reached in Baku, as stated in the official statement, plans to “tripling financing to developing countries from the previous target of USD 100 billion per year to USD 300 billion per year by 2035; ensuring the efforts of all actors to work together to increase financing to developing countries, from public and private sources, to USD 1,3 trillion per year by 2035". (2)
Criticisms of the COP29 conclusions
Too little, from too many sources, with a disastrous climate agenda and what Oxfam International calls “a global Ponzi scheme.”
The criticisms The opposition to the agreement has multiplied because the funding is deemed too low, if not offensive, and inadequate to address the climate crisis in the countries that participate least (such as small island nations) but are most at risk of being wiped out by increasingly devastating disasters.
Villages as Bolivia and Nigeria expressed deep disappointment at what they called an “inanely low” funding target and that the agreed text failed to meaningfully build on the agreement reached at COP28 in Dubai, which called for nations to “abandon fossil fuels.” A representative of a group of small island nations said: “After the end of this COP29, we cannot simply sail off into the sunset. We are literally sinking.”. (two)
He wrote on X the Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres: “Reaching an agreement at COP29 was essential to keep the 1,5°C limit of global warming. I had hoped for a more ambitious outcome – both financially and on mitigation – to address the scale of the great challenge we face, but the agreement reached provides a basis on which to build. It must be fully respected and on time. I call on governments to do so urgently”. (two)
The “False Solutions” of a “Disastrous” Climate Agenda
The summit is considered a failure because it only avoided diplomatic disaster and ended with a figure that is “too little, too late, from too many sources” (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) also because it is not only made up of public funding, quite the opposite.
At least 1000 billion are needed of dollars per year between loss & damage, adaptation and mitigation but they are needed (would be needed) in the form of public resources, therefore subsidies. According to Legambiente "the aid received so far has been mainly (69% in 2022) in the form of loans” and this aggravates the debt crisis of vulnerable countries.
"The alleged “COP of climate finance” has turned into a “COP of false solutions”. The terrible agreement on finance destroys the notion of historical responsibility of the rich, large, polluting countries and pushes private debt to create financing”, comments Kirtana Chandrasekaran of Friends of the Earth International. (5)
La Campesina Via denounces a series of distortions in spaces of debate that appear to be dominated by the interests of multinationals and the global North – it is no coincidence that hundreds and hundreds of lobbyists from the hydrocarbon industries arrive at the COPs.
The peasant communities, rural workers and indigenous peoples denounce the industrial agri-food system, extractive models, corporate “greenwashing” schemes, neoliberalism, market-based solutions, based on the interests of companies and rich nations, often wrapped in the rhetoric of the green economy, which end up reproducing exploitation and inequalities.
For the Via Campesina "The current climate agenda is nothing short of disastrous. False solutions, including carbon markets, offset systems, genetically modified crops, geoengineering megaprojects, “Climate Smart Agriculture” and “Nature-Based Solutions,” are promoted as climate mitigation tools, but fail to address the root causes of the crisis. These approaches reinforce an imperialist development agenda, deepening colonialism, patriarchy and environmental degradation”. (two)
Money Matters, Oxfam: “Global Ponzi Scheme”
Not only are resources scarce. But they are not even “real money”, Oxfam International lashes out (7).
Nafkote Dabi, head of climate change policy at Oxfam International, says: “The dire verdict of the Baku climate talks shows that rich countries see the global South as ultimately expendable, as pawns on a chessboard (…) And what about the promises of future financing? They are as hollow as the deal itself. The money on the table is not just a pittance compared to what is really needed, it is not even “money” at all. Rather, it is a motley mix of loans and privatized investments, a global Ponzi scheme that private equity vultures and PR men will now exploit.".
Sabrina Bergamini
Note
(1) Sabrina Bergamini. Cop29, Climate Finance and Community Rights. Egalité. 15.11.24
(2) COP29 UN Climate Conference Agrees to Triple Finance to Developing Countries, Protecting Lives and Livelihoods https://unfccc.int/cop29
(3) COP29: Conference closes with $300 billion pledge https://unric.org/it/cop29-la-conferenza-si-chiude-con-un-impegno-di-300-miliardi/
(4) UN Secretary-General Statement on COP29 https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2024-11-23/un-secretary-general-statement-cop29
(5) COP29 closing: Pennies for climate finance, billions in false solutions, complicity in genocide https://www.foei.org/cop29-foei-closing-press-release/
(6) “Current climate agenda is nothing short of disastrous as false solutions are promoted as climate mitigation tools” – warns Via Campesina https://viacampesina.org/en/current-climate-agenda-is-nothing-short-of-disastrous-as-false-solutions-are-promoted-as-climate-mitigation-tools-warns-via-campesina/
(7) COP29 deal is a “global Ponzi scheme”: Oxfam https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/cop29-deal-global-ponzi-scheme-oxfam
