Zim weighs in on US$300bn climate ‘deal’

Africa Moyo

Deputy News Editor

THE pledge by richer countries to triple climate-finance to US$300 billion a year by 2035 made at the Conference of Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, “does not mean anything at all”, Acting Permanent Secretary for Environment, Climate and Wildlife Mr Washington Zhakata, has said.

COP29 ran from November 11 up to 24 for most delegates, but was extended by a day to allow negotiators to thrash out the final deal.

Rich nations, which are responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions since the mid-1800s, have been trickling out climate finance to help developing countries fight climate change, and a majority of the funds made available have been in the form of loans rather than grants.

But following the long deliberations that ended on November 25, the wealthy nations agreed to a US$300 billion climate finance deal, which the purse holders have praised as historic, while the supposed beneficiaries have described it as “insultingly low”.

In an interview yesterday, Mr Zhakata, who is also a lead co-ordinator in the Africa Group of Negotiators in climate change, said: “This wasn’t a deal at all. It doesn’t mean anything. We have seen the unfulfilled promises on the present US$100 billion a year, and as compared to what was requested or required, this is too little.”

Developing countries say their counterparts in the developed world just make promises, which they cannot fulfil or at times hide under semantics of the agreement.

In 2009, 43 rich countries, including the United States and most European countries, pledged to provide US$100 billion per year to developing countries by 2020 to help them adapt to and mitigate climate change. The target was set at COP15 held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009 and the timeline was extended to 2025 at COP21 in Paris, France.

But many developing countries say nothing has been received under the US$100 billion a year initiative and in any case what has been paid out is overwhelmingly in loan finance, rather than grant finance.

Feeling short-changed from the previous “deals”, delegates at this year’s COP from developing countries expressed concern over the US$300 billion deal.

Executive director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Dr Jeni Miller, said developed countries have failed to meet their promises under the Paris Agreement and the alliance was not optimistic they would do so now.

“One billion people live in the least developed countries and small island nations that are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, facing ongoing major threats to their health,” said Dr Miller.

“These countries are already investing their own public funds responding to the impacts of a climate crisis that they did not cause, and desperately need additional support to make their communities more resilient and to save lives.

“The heated negotiations regarding the weak COP29 finance deal cast a pall over many of the other issues under discussion, resulting in limited progress on ways to implement last year’s call to ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ — crucial to protecting people’s health in all countries from climate change, air pollution, and the myriad health harms of fossil fuel production and use.”

Dr Miller added that lack of adequate finance would make it difficult for countries to deliver on their new round of national climate plans, due next February as required under the Paris Agreement.

“It is deeply discouraging to yet again see governments of wealthy countries that claim to be leaders, kick the can on climate down the road, at the cost of the lives and health of their populations, and of everyone around the world,” she said.

An Indian delegate, Ms Chandni Raina, said the US$300 billion deal was “abysmally poor”.

“It’s a paltry sum. This document is little more than an optical illusion. This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face,” she said.

Nigeria’s climate envoy, Dr Nkiruka Maduekwe, did not mince words, calling the deal “an insult”, while Sierra Leone’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Jiwoh Abdulai said there was a “lack of goodwill” from rich countries to help poor countries tackle climate change.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had “hoped for a more ambitious outcome”.