COP29 Concludes Dealing With Climate Finance After Bitter War

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(Bloomberg) — Nearly 200 countries have agreed to triple the amount of money available to help developing countries deal with rapidly rising temperatures.

But the agreement reached at the end of the two-week COP29 summit in Azerbaijan has resulted in hostile and at times outright hostile negotiations, portraying a deal that even its supporters may see as inadequate and disappointing. The process of global climate cooperation will move forward from here under the weight of the most difficult questions at hand.

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The global temperature increase has reached 1.5C – the critical point to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change.

“We needed to leave Baku with an agreement to keep the international system alive,” said Juan Carlos Monterrey-Gomez, Panama’s special representative on climate change. “We kept the program alive. But I think 1.5 is dead. “

Rich countries have pledged to provide at least $300 billion by 2035, using a wide variety of sources, including public finance and bilateral and international agreements. The agreement also calls for the parties to work to release a total of $1.3 trillion annually, most of which is expected to come from private funds.

Developed and developing countries engage in discussions far apart. At one point on Saturday, negotiations appeared to be on the brink, before several closed-door meetings reached an agreement.

Rich countries are faced with a host of financial and political crises, including inflation, budget constraints and overpopulation. The election of Donald Trump and his threat to withdraw the US from the landmark Paris climate agreement also cast a shadow over the summit.

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Under the agreement, the rich countries finally agreed to make an investment of $ 50 billion more than what was requested in the draft agreement on Friday. They also made any deal contingent on confirming the outcome of last year’s COP28 in Dubai which included a pledge to divest from fossil fuels.

But Saudi Arabia, which leads a group of Arab nations, opposed the move to designate any sector.

“There’s definitely a challenge to find ambition when you’re negotiating with the Saudis,” John Podesta, the US’s top climate negotiator, told reporters. “At a time when the world is facing such catastrophic consequences of climate change one inch at a time is not enough.”

In the end, developed countries had to agree to simply ratify the agreement reached last year at COP28 in Dubai, without explicitly mentioning “fossil fuels” in the words.

‘Very Little’

The promised funding falls short of the billions of dollars that poor and vulnerable countries say they need to prove the economic condition of their economies. They also want some of that money to come in the form of grants and other affordable financial aid, as market-based loans risk deepening their debt burdens.

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The acceptance of this agreement came against the opposition of India, whose delegates had raised their hands in an attempt to intervene, and when it fell to the ground, they went up to the stage in a failed attempt to demand attention.

India’s representative Chandni Raina called the agreement inadequate. he called the deal insufficient. “The goal is too small, too far,” he said, his speech often met with applause and cheers.

Nevertheless, for some the result will serve as proof that the COP process is still the best way to coordinate global action to meet the growing challenges of climate change.

“COP29 took place in difficult circumstances but international cooperation is alive and more necessary than ever,” said Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation, architect of the historic Paris Agreement.

The new agreement will help inform each country’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and the next round of UN climate talks in Brazil. Many developing countries have stressed that the smaller-than-expected financial commitment will delay their transition to renewable energy and hinder their desire to set carbon reduction targets due in February.

(Updates with comments in section four. An earlier version of the story corrected the name of the Indian official)

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