My reflections on finance and COP29.
I read the Independent High Level Expert Group on Climate Finance report , which said that the minimum concessional public financing needed was $390 billion annually. It also puts developing countries’ need for external climate finance at around $1 trillion a year by 2030 and $1.3 trillion by 2035. At its core, the agreement in Baku targets developed countries taking the lead on mobilising core financing of at least USD 300 billion annually by 2035 and an 'additional layer' of up to USD 1.3 trillion, primarily encompassing private financing. The $300 billion was rightly condemned by the Global South negotiators. This funding will not be only grant-based money but will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including – undefined - “alternative sources”. In many cases, this will just add debt to the developing countries already heavily burdened by debt from previous development assistance. So, no agreement that this wa...