Climate financing, a major challenge for COP29

Climate activists occupied the Olympic stadium in Baku, the venue for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) on Thursday to urge world leaders to reach a solid agreement on financing.    

This issue is part of the core of the debates at COP29, which will be held until November 22 in the capital of Azerbaijan with the participation of representatives from 197 States and the European Union (EU).

Huge banners reading “Pay Up!” demanding rich nations to fund poor States for the climate crisis were unfurled on the stadium seats, in full view from the conference presidency offices on the opposite side of the venue.

The action came on COP29’s theme day on finance, when the stakes are high to secure monetary commitments to support the global transition from fossil fuels and protect the planet from increasingly extreme and frequent climate impacts.

This year’s global climate summit has been dubbed the “COP of finance,” with many calling for the current 100 billion-dollar-a-year plan to be increased to at least one trillion dollars per year to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts around the world.

It is time for those responsible for the climate crisis to hear our message, take responsibility and pay, Joseph Sikulu, a delegate from Tonga, one of the Pacific island States facing increasing threats due to global warming, told the media.

Without significant contributions, the new national plans of vulnerable countries to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius target compared to pre-industrial levels of the Paris Agreement might fail.

The European climate agency Copernicus forcasts that for the second consecutive year the Earth will be warmer and for the first time in 2024 those 1.5 degrees were exceeded, generating increasingly intense weather phenomena.

“There is no time to lose.” It is urgent that developed countries take responsibility and leadership and provide sufficient public financing to meet the needs and priorities of developing countries, particularly the urgent needs of adaptation, Sandra Guzmán, a delegate from Mexico, pointed out.

The world needs leaders committed to justice and equity. This starts by meeting funding commitments, taxing the super-rich, phasing out fossil fuels and holding polluters accountable. The climate crisis demands swift, decisive and equitable action now, Philippine activist Marinel Ubaldo told reporters.