This year hasn’t seen the mobilisation of finance from developed countries either. If there is no money that will come out of the negotiations, how will COP30 deliver?
While nearly 40,000 protesters took to the streets of Belém, beating up a furore against the threat of climate change, the mood at the COP30 venue remained rather nonchalant a week into the negotiations.
Views from the consultations regarding the four issues, namely trade, finance, 1.5°C and emissions reporting, would be summarised to help future conversations have a better structure, according to the Presidency. Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago said that the summary would be published on Sunday, and the stocktaking has been pushed till next week.
This year hasn’t seen the mobilisation of finance from developed countries either. If there is no money that will come out of the negotiations, how will COP30 deliver?
The answer lies in adaptation finance, and tripling it.
“Adaptation finance would be the signal from rich countries that they are still interested in funding the fight against climate change,” said Sandra Guzman, Founder of the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC).
“Financing for developing countries, through Article 9.1, is not charity. Also, tripling of adaptation finance is possible,” she said. “Money is needed from NCQG, Article 9.1, and debt security. This COP has to deliver adaptation finance. Without it, the measure of success will be hard to define.”
However, trends in the geopolitical space as well as at COP itself have seen a lot of fingerpointing and backtracking on key issues, according to Joe Thwaites, Senior Advocate, International Climate Finance, NRDC.
Talking about the end result of the proposed Baku to Belem roadmap, he said that there is a “need to find a process to reach the $1.3 trillion now. While 2035 seems a long way off, if the planning doesn’t start now, it [the ] might get away from us by the time it is 2032-33,” he said.
Climate finance is good investment
Thwaites continued by saying that investment in climate resilience is a strategic one, as addressing climate change is addressing real concerns.
“Smart investments pay dividends for everyone. We are in global supply chains, so an investment affects all countries [eventually],” he said.
David Ryfisch, Head of Future-proof Finance, Germanwatch, agreed with him. When asked about the growing rift between the Global North countries and Global South countries, he said that, “It should not be about Global North against Global South. Rather, it should be about electro-states against petro-states. For this, finance is important, and the signal needs to come from rich countries, as climate finance is a good investment for developed countries.”
Taking China’s example of investing around $200 billion in clean tech manufacturing — 75% of which went to developing countries, Thwaites said that China’s investments are increasing financial flows through South-South cooperation.
“This can be seen in spillovers into the action agenda at COP like the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). We need to look at the needs of developing countries, see that it is reaching affected communities, and then look at what is the [remaining] gap,” he said.
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