Climate Funding for Climate-Vulnerable Countries: Political Opportunism at the COP19 Summit in Sierra Leone, United Nations, and Marshall Islands

“We are leaving with a small portion of the funding climate-vulnerable countries urgently need. It isn’t nearly enough, but it’s a start, and we’ve made it clear that these funds must come with fewer obstacles so they reach those who need them most,” Stege said.

Delegates from other countries also voiced their frustration. “We are extremely disappointed in the outcome,” Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone’s minister of environment and climate change, said in a response shared over WhatsApp. The core goal of $300 billion a year shows a lack of goodwill, said Abdulai.

This year, the climate conference was attended by a large fossil fuel industry gathering. Lobbyists for fossil fuel companies were granted access to the summit. A number of oil and gas executives and staff have been given special badges as guests of the presidency.

The summit that ended on Sunday was exasperating for delegates from places that have been hit the hardest by climate change.

“We came in good faith, with the safety of our communities and the well-being of the world at heart,” Tina Stege, Marshall Islands climate envoy, said in a statement shared with reporters over WhatsApp. “Yet, we have seen the very worst of political opportunism here at this COP, playing games with the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.”

The delegates from rich countries were given a loud standing applause in the early hours of November 24, after they received a pledge that rich countries would increase climate finance to poor countries to at least US$300 billion by the year 2035. Low-and middle income countries, notably China, will be expected to contribute to international climate funds, a first for a COP agreement.

The Fossil engagement director says that President Trump is pushing to increase fossil fuel production which will endanger lives and livelihoods in regions most impacted by climate change.

The COP’s “current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity,” the letter says.

It seems that countries forget the reason why we are here. It is to save lives,” Stege said. We need to rebuild trust in this process.

Climate Finance in the United States: The Last COP29 Agreement and the Road Map to the CRC1930 Meeting of the United Nations and the Rights of the Child

The US experienced a record number of weather and climate disasters, costing at least $1 billion each year, with 28 in 2023 compared to 22 in 2020. The amount of dollars is only one of the things that are more than just dollar amounts. Each disaster can be measured in lives, homes, and livelihoods lost from storms, wildfires, and droughts. A small country like the Marshall Islands has less money than a wealthy country like the US to help it adapt to a warming world.

“The finance outcome for Baku was deeply disappointing,” says Dipak Dasgupta, an economist at The Energy and Resources think-tank in New Delhi, and a lead author on climate finance for reports assembled by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

A last-minute deal that rescued the COP29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, is a “fragile consensus”, researchers who study climate finance have told Nature.

But delegates from some of the largest developing countries, including India, Indonesia and Nigeria were furious. Some claimed that they had been pressured into a deal so the meeting wouldn’t end in failure. The meeting also did not agree how much of the $300 billion is to be in grants versus loans, nor how much will come from private or public-sector sources.

The fact that this COP is still happening, and that wealthier and poorer nations are still at odds, is a cause for celebration, notes Kate Reaney, head of the climate program at The Nature Conservancy.

The agreed amount does not reflect a scenario in which the United States withdraws its global climate funding if it chooses to leave international climate agreements.

A road map document for finance is expected to be prepared before the 30th meeting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Brazil. How will countries achieve higher climate finance targets?

The road map for Belém is important because of practical science. It needs careful nurturing, and not a wrecking ball.”