BAKU: The COP29 summit in Azerbaijan has reached an agreement to provide at least US$1.3 trillion annually through 2035 to poorer countries to help them fight climate change, with at least US$300 billion to come from mainly industrialised nations, the German news agency dpa reported.
The funding is intended to help developing countries enhance climate protection and adapt to the devastating effects of global warming, such as more frequent droughts, storms, and floods.
Currently, long-standing industrial nations mobilise over US$100 billion annually in climate aid. However, according to an independent UN expert group, the need for external assistance now stands at around US$1 trillion per year until 2030, and even US$1.3 trillion by 2035.
To raise the US$1.3 trillion annually, the agreement stipulates that multilateral development banks should significantly increase their lending or cancel debts for poorer countries. Public funds and bank resources should leverage private investments on a large scale, which will also be counted as climate financing.
Moreover, additional donor countries are encouraged to get involved. The appeal is so broadly framed that climate activists criticised the plan because no specific entity is held accountable to reach the global goal.
Germany, like all other nations, is not specifically obliged to make payments of certain amounts by the resolution.
Ultimately, a compromise was reached, partly because it remains somewhat unclear how the trillion-dollar sum will be sourced – this task will now fall to the next climate conference in Brazil. – BERNAMA-dpa
