Wealthy nations have committed to providing $300 billion annually by 2035 to assist developing countries in addressing the impacts of climate change, following two weeks of vigorous discussions at the United Nations climate summit (COP29) in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. However, developing countries have rejected the $300 billion global climate finance deal adopted at the COP29, expressing disappointment over the lack of commitment from developed nations. ALSO READ: Rwanda Faces $7 Billion Funding Gap to Implement Climate Action Plan Faustin Munyazikwiye, Rwanda's lead negotiator in the UN Climate talks, said that developing countries were requesting $1.3 trillion as climate finance while some developed countries were even proposing only $250 billion. He also said that developing countries are pushing developed countries to provide enough funding to Loss and Damage Fund to help poor countries recover from climate change effects. ALSO READ: COP29: What is Rwanda's main agenda in Baku? At COP29, Rwanda was also pushing for a new global goal for climate finance and operationalisation of the loss and damage fund. While the new commitment exceeds the previous $100bn pledge, the deal at COP29 has been sharply criticised by developing nations as woefully insufficient to address the scale of the climate crisis. The $300 billion committed annually will be allocated in form grants and low-interest loans from developed countries to support developing nations in shifting to low-carbon economies and preparing for the impacts of climate change. ALSO READ: Rwanda’s negotiators in Bonn for climate finance push The US and the European Union want newly wealthy emerging economies like China – currently the world’s largest emitter – to chip in. But the deal only “encourages” emerging economies to make voluntary contributions. New rules allowing wealthy, high-emission countries to buy carbon-cutting “offsets” from developing nations were approved this week. Responding to the outcome of the COP29 climate summit, Mohamed Adow, Director of climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa, said: This COP has been a disaster for the developing world. “It’s a betrayal of both people and planet, by wealthy countries who claim to take climate change seriously. Rich countries have promised to “mobilise” some funds in the future, rather than provide them now. The cheque is in the mail. But lives and livelihoods in vulnerable countries are being lost now,” he said. Ali D. Mohamed, the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) Chair, said: The $300 billion per year by 2035 is too little, too late for a continent facing climate devastation while contributing least to emissions. The African Group cautions against a repetition of past failures, such as the inadequate implementation of the $100 billion annual goal, which would undermine the delivery of the Paris Agreement’s aims. “We are deeply concerned about proposals that would lead to a regression in global climate finance and risk the effectiveness of the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG),” he said.
