The COP29 United Nations climate change negotiations stumbled toward Friday's deadline, with a draft target of climate finance to developing nations falling far short of expectations.
A key task of the UN gathering, which kicked off on Nov 11 in Baku, Azerbaijan, is to establish a 2025-35 climate finance commitment from developed nations to developing countries, which is officially known as the New Collective Quantified Goal.
On Friday afternoon, the COP29 presidency released a new-draft climate finance deal proposal that would have developed nations take the lead in providing $250 billion per year by 2035.
Wang Yi, vice-chair of China's National Expert Panel on Climate Change, said the proposed amount is not enough to achieve the goal of keeping temperature increases this century well below 1.5 C, or even below 2 C.
However, he stressed that the texts need to take into account the concerns of different parties, and it's an oft-seen scenario where negotiated agreements end up leaving everyone feeling somewhat unsatisfied, but it was ultimately the only viable solution.
The draft also sets a broader goal to raise $1.3 trillion by 2035, which would include funding from all public and private sources.
But the draft target of providing $250 billion annually is sorely inadequate to meet the needs and expectations of developing countries.
After being asked to comment on a proposed $200 billion NCQG during a news conference on Wednesday, delegates from developing countries offered a brief but dismissive answer.
"Is this a joke?" asked Diego Pacheco from Bolivia, speaking on behalf of the Like-Minded Group of Developing Countries (LMDC).
His sobering query sparked laughter throughout the news conference. Adonia Ayebare of Uganda, speaking for the Group of 77, repeated the rhetorical question, eliciting a similar response.
Ali Mohamed from Kenya, on behalf of the African Group of Negotiators, stressed that the suggested $200 billion NCQG was far from enough.
"The quantum that we are putting forward is nothing near to what you just suggested. We just saw the adaptation gap report which said that the gap for adaptation needs for developing countries is up to $400 billion," Mohamed said.
He added, "If it cannot even respond to the gap on adaptation, let alone other things, we take it as a very big joke."
In an interview with China Daily, Eang Sophalleth, Cambodia's minister of environment, stressed the importance of climate finance from developed countries for developing nations as they scramble to cope with the adverse impacts of the climate crisis they disproportionately suffer from.
Amid rising climate change-triggered extreme weather events, developed countries — who are the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions — are financially capable of rebuilding infrastructure and homes devastated by such events, he said.
Many developing nations, however, are financially constrained to do that, he noted.
"They (should) keep the promise, giving the money to solve the problem … rather than just keeping the money," he stressed.
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