UN climate conferences mostly exceed schedules and deadlines, and the UNFCCC COP30 in Belém, Brazil, was no different. However, unlike many such meetings held since the Paris Agreement, this conference made progress in easing some of the tension between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ nations over climate finance, with countries agreeing to establish a two-year plan aimed at helping developing nations raise at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 — funding considered crucial for their climate goals in the coming decade.
In the year of the second US withdrawal from Paris, 194 countries came together and sent a message that the rest of the world is moving ahead on the understanding that climate leadership brings economic protection, with the Baku-to-Belém roadmap setting out a plan to scale up global climate finance to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
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Rich countries committed to tripling adaptation finance as part of the $300-bn New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) — the post-2025 climate finance target designed to support developing countries — by 2035. This means that around $120 bn of the $300 bn climate finance goal will be dedicated to adaptation measures in the most vulnerable countries. At least $6.5 billion was announced for the Tropical Forests Forever Facility to support forest protection and community-led conservation. The deal is far from perfect and falls short of what science demands, but at a time when multilateralism is being tested, it is significant that countries continue to move forward together, according to Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland.
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Apart from the commitment to triple adaptation finance by 2035, key agreements include a Brazilian-led effort for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels and end deforestation, an implementation accelerator to keep 1.5°C alive, and a new mechanism to enhance international cooperation on a just transition. But there is a catch: there are no firm financial pledges from developed countries, which major emerging economies like India and China have been pushing for. But the goal of tripling adaptation finance remains vague, with no specific accountability of contributors, as CSE’s Avantika Goswami points out.
India has welcomed key outcomes, reaffirming its commitment to equity, climate justice, and global solidarity. It appreciated the COP Presidency’s efforts in foregrounding the issue of climate finance, hoping that promises made 33 years ago in Rio will be fulfilled. Those who have the least responsibility in causing the problem must not be loaded with the burden of climate change mitigation, it said, reaffirming commitment to a rules-based and sovereignty-respecting global order. Basically, the long-standing obligation of developed nations is to provide climate finance and make collective efforts towards a fair, inclusive, and cooperative global climate future.
Many activists called Belém an important political step, highlighting the urgency of closing the climate-finance gap and keeping pressure on wealthy nations to increase their contributions. “The challenges of climate impacts, conflict, rising debt, trade whiplash, and economic woes have upended relations. The COP demonstrated a new multilateralism that reflects the new era of multipolar politics,” they said, even though there was no clear global commitment to phase out fossil fuels.
But they also talked of “genuine investment pathways, honest recognition of the scale of loss & damage, adequate concessional finance, and a system that judges COPs the way company boards judge annual performance — not on plans, but on delivery. Delivery is the only currency of trust. The negotiations have delivered. Now action must follow,” says Arunabha Ghosh from the Council for Energy, Environment & Water (CEEW).
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