G20 Summit Ends In Disappointment For COP29 Negotiators

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Group of 20 summit in Brazil's Rio De Janeiro disappointed negotiators at the UN Climate Change conference Baku-COP29, as it failed to send a“strong signal” on the pressing need to resolve the climate crisis.

The G20 leaders' declaration reiterated the need for rapidly scaling up climate finance“from billions to trillions”, which they acknowledged in the 2023 New Delhi meeting as well, and promised to accelerate the reformation of the international financial architecture to make more money available for climate change.

However, the summit did not address the immediate need for COP29 to make headway in the climate finance negotiations.

“It looks forward to a successful New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)-the formal name for the finance agreement being negotiated at COP29- outcome in Baku. We pledge our support to the COP29 presidency and commit to successful negotiations in Baku,” said the late-Monday G20 declaration.

G20 leaders had gathered in Rio de Janeiro to address major global challenges and crises and promote strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth.

A day earlier, the host of COP29 had pleaded to G20 countries to send a positive signal on the need to tackle climate change and provide clear mandates to help save talks that had bogged down in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Together, the G20 member countries make up 85% of the global economy and 80% of heat-trapping emissions. European countries have been saying an ambitious goal can be agreed upon if they expand the base of contributors to include some of the richer developing nations, such as China and Middle Eastern oil producers, which developing nations, including India, oppose.

The negotiations have also been deadlocked for a week due to seemingly irreconcilable differences in countries' positions over issues such as the quantum of finance, the proportion of money to be raised through public finances, and, crucially, who all should contribute.

"G20 Leaders have sent a clear message to their negotiators at COP29: Do not leave Baku without a successful new finance goal. This is in every country's clear interest,” UN executive secretary Simon Stiell said on Tuesday.

“G20 delegations now have their marching orders for here in Baku, where we urgently need all nations to bypass the posturing and move swiftly towards common ground across all issues," Stiell added.

A report from the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance on Thursday said if countries do not act now, the climate finance target will need to be raised to at least $1.3 trillion a year by 2035.

India, on behalf of like-minded developing countries (LMDCs), said on Thursday that developed countries need to commit to providing and mobilizing at least $1.3 trillion every year in NCQG until 2030. It added that climate finance cannot be changed into an investment goal when it is a unidirectional provision and mobilization goal from the developed to the developing countries.

At present, developing nations in Baku are mooting $5-6.8 trillion worth of climate finance until 2030.

Several countries have said money is essential to setting ambitious climate goals ahead of next year's COP30 in Brazil. However, reaching a deal could be tough at this year's summit, where public disagreements and pessimism about shifts in global politics have soured the mood.

"Parties must remember that the clock is ticking," COP29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The previous annual finance goal of $100 billion expires this year, but wealthy countries only fully met the pledge starting in 2022.

Consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) foundational principles of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) and equity, the Copenhagen Accord of 2009 or COP15 recognized the requirement to support climate action in developing economies with financial resources.

In this connection, developed countries committed to providing $30 billion in climate finance to developing countries during 2010-2012, which was supposed to reach $100 billion per year by 2020.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which has reported on the progress towards the $100 billion per year goal since 2015, this target was reportedly achieved in 2022, two years behind schedule.

However, some observers, including Oxfam, and developing countries, have raised concerns over the accuracy, methodology, and verifiability of the OECD figures. In contrast to the OECD's claim that $115.9 billion in climate finance has been delivered till 2022, Oxfam estimates the real value of support between $27.9 and $34.9 billion.

Negotiators from 198 countries have been trying to finalize a comprehensive agreement on climate finance to enable greater funding for climate action since 11 November in Baku. The climate negotiations will continue until 22 November.

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