COP29 strikes last ditch 300bn climate funding deal for vulnerable countries

25 November 2024 – The COP29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.

The summit has agreed for richer countries to aim for $300bn in funding per year to support poorer countries dealing with the impact of climate change. But the deal has dismayed vulnerable nations.

The deal was finally signed off in the early hours of Sunday morning that proved hardest of all – one about money.

More than 190 countries represented in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.

It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.

But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.

Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.

Most vulnerable nations walk out rejecting the draft deal
Before the last ditch deal was made, Samoa and other vulnerable Small Island States walked out of the meeting claiming they have been betrayed as the rich countries did not honour their promise to provide climate finance.

They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.

The delegates rejected the draft that pledged $250 billion annually by 2035, more than double the previous goal of $100 billion set 15 years ago but far short of the annual $1 trillion-plus that experts say is needed.

Sierra Leone’s environment minister told news outlets he felt poorer countering were being “ignored”.

Samoa’s Minister of the Environment, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, said “We came to this COP for a fair deal. We feel we haven’t been heard, and there’s a deal to be made and we have not been consulted.

Sierra Leone Climate Minister, Jiowah Emanuel said “Our countries most affected by climate change. We’ve made our needs known, and we have been ignored and its why we have walked out.”

Power Shift Director, of South Africa said, “The moral compass of the world, the most vulnerable countries on our planet, have walked out f the negotiations after the developed world failed to honour the promise they made to provide climate finance.

“The rich world has refused to honour their obligations and they have been working to ensure, to shift the burden on to developing countries.”

Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt & Development said it was better to wait another year than accepting a bad deal.

“We feel it’s better to walk away from a deal that is so bad and so unacceptable, the parties here have already said, it is more than a joke, it is deeply insulting and unacceptable and we would rather fight for another year, than accept a really bad deal.”

The COPS29 President, Mukhtar Babayev (right), embracing the UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell after the deal was passed.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.

“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”

A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.

A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others in the meeting wanted.

Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.

Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.