World reaches $300b climate finance deal

Countries at the COP29 summit in Baku adopted a $300 billion a year global finance target yesterday to help poorer nations cope with impacts of climate change, a deal its intended recipients criticised as woefully insufficient.
The agreement, clinched in overtime at the two-week conference in Azerbaijan’s capital, was meant to provide momentum for international efforts to curb global warming in a year destined to be the hottest on record.
Some delegates gave the deal a standing ovation in the COP29 plenary hall. Others lambasted wealthy nations for not doing more and criticised the Azerbaijan host for hurriedly gavelling through the contentious plan.
“It’s a paltry sum. I regret to say that this document is nothing more than an optical illusion,” Indian delegation representative Chandni Raina told the closing session of the summit, minutes after the deal was gavelled in.
“This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face. Therefore, we oppose the adoption of this document.”
United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell acknowledged the difficult negotiations that led to the agreement but hailed the outcome as an insurance policy for humanity against global warming.
“It has been a difficult journey, but we’ve delivered a deal,” Stiell said. “This deal will keep the clean energy boom growing and protect billions of lives.
“But like any insurance policy, it only works if the premiums are paid in full, and on time.”
The agreement would provide $300 billion annually by 2035, boosting rich countries’ previous commitment to provide $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020. That earlier goal was met two years late, in 2022, and expires in 2025.
The deal also lays the groundwork for next year’s climate summit, to be held in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, where countries are meant to map out the next decade of climate action.
The summit cut to the heart of the debate over financial responsibility of industrialised countries – whose historic use of fossil fuels has caused the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions – to compensate others for worsening damage from climate change.
It also laid bare divisions between wealthy governments constrained by tight domestic budgets and developing nations reeling from costs of storms, floods and droughts.
Nations have been seeking financing to deliver on the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels – beyond which catastrophic climate impacts could occur.
The world is currently on track for as much as 3.1 C (5.6 F) of warming by the end of this century, according to the 2024 U.N. Emissions Gap report, with global greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuels use continuing to rise.