Calls grow for developed countries to provide more green finance

During the Conference of Parties in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009, wealthy countries, which are responsible for emitting the bulk of the greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet, pledged $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries tackle the problem.

Twelve years later that commitment is yet to be met. The issue has been a simmering point of contention in United Nations climate talks for some years now, and has received renewed attention in the climate talks of the COP 26 climate summit, now on in Glasgow, Scotland.

"The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities should guide all collaboration on environmental and climate matters," said Jorge Chediek, the UN secretary-general's former envoy on South-South cooperation.

"The developed countries that profited the most from the prevailing unsustainable development patterns should provide the bulk of the resources and technological inputs to address these issues, and also make significant commitments in terms of changing their own policy frameworks.

"The leadership of China, as the largest developing country and as a member of the G77+China, is essential for this dialogue to succeed, and also to get the developed countries to finally contribute their fair share."

Despite repeated pledges, rich countries have yet to make good on the $100 billion a year promise. Climate finance provided by developed countries totaled $79.6 billion in 2019, more than $20 billion short of the commitment. Reports indicated that the $100 billion target will not be met until 2023.

The failure of developed countries to fulfill their financial commitment sparked anger from developing countries as the COP 26 began in Glasgow a week ago. Leaders of developing countries argued that rich countries, which built their economies through industrialization, are to blame for global warming.

"Africa is suffering the worst consequences from this phenomenon, economically, socially and politically," Bloomberg quoted Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi as saying.

Other countries, including Gabon, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Libya and the Maldives, made similar appeals last week. Some said the failure to honor promises eroded trust between developed and developing countries. The Alliance of Small Island States said in a statement that "the impact this has had on trust cannot be underestimated".

'Not enough'

"Developed countries are not doing enough to support developing nations in their transition to clean energy or their struggles to adapt to climate change," said Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program in the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at the University of California, Berkeley.

"The extreme weather exacerbated by climate change is increasingly the result of historic and present fossil fuel emissions, which has been overwhelmingly caused by just a few industrialized countries. It's unjust that developing nations now have to bear the brunt of the resulting flooding, droughts, sea level rise and more intense storms, among other climate impacts, when they have the fewest resources to protect themselves and their residents."

Developing countries need money for things such as building sea walls and moving residents to safe areas in extreme weather, as well as technologies to deal with droughts, he said. Other possible investment included "a modernized, clean electricity grid" that would help them reduce carbon emissions.

The biggest challenge for developed countries in meeting these financial commitments is "really political", Elkind said.

"The key is to find a sweet spot where foreign aid can also bolster each countries' ties to each other, in ways to further promote their national security or economic development through trade."

Lacking resources

Developing countries, especially the least developed and small-island states, are among the most vulnerable to natural disasters. Due to the coastal location of small-island states, they are more prone to natural disasters. Eighty percent of the 1,200 islands that constitute the Maldives are less than 1 meter above sea level and face the threat of disappearing under the rising sea.

Such countries lack the financial resources to defend themselves against extreme weather events, which usually cost billions of dollars.

It was in this context that countries developed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992, which included the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities". It acknowledges the different capabilities and responsibilities of countries in tackling climate change.

It was also in line with this principle that developed countries committed to a collective goal of spending $100 billion a year by 2020 to help their less developed counterparts mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Climate finance provided by developed countries rose to $79.6 billion in 2019, 2 percent more than in 2018, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said, the kind of figures that have disheartened many environmental experts.

'Limited progress'

"The limited progress in overall climate finance volumes between 2018 and 2019 is disappointing, particularly ahead of COP 26," the OECD Secretary-General, Mathias Cormann, said on Sept 17. "While appropriately verified data for 2020 will not be available until early next year, it is clear that climate finance will remain well short of its target. More needs to be done."

In fact, even $100 billion is far from enough for developing countries to transform their energy systems and achieve net-zero emissions. The UN Environment Programme estimates that developing countries would need between $140 billion and $300 billion by 2030 to cope with climate change.

During the UN General Debate in September, US President Joe Biden pledged to work with Congress to double the climate finance from Obama-era levels to $5.7 billion. However, observers said the new commitment does not reflect a fair share of the US' gross national income and cumulative finance. It should provide between $43 billion and $50 billion each year in climate finance, according to analysis by the Overseas Development Institute, a think tank in London.

Furthermore, many developed countries have chosen to provide finance in the form of loans rather than grants. With interest to be paid, this adds to the financial strains on developing countries, already reeling from financial losses because of climate change.

Countries also tend to provide finance for mitigation measures, which help developing countries mitigate the impact of climate, instead of adaptation measures, which help countries switch to green economies, thus adapting to the effects of extreme weather.

Adaptation projects are usually costly and do not generate a tangible financial return. About 70 percent of funding between 2013 and 2018 supported mitigation efforts, and only 21 percent was used for adaptation, which is the most pressing need for developing countries, the Council on Foreign Relations in New York said.

"#COP26 must be a moment of solidarity," the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a recent tweet. "The $100 billion a year climate finance commitment in support of developing countries must become a $100 billion climate finance reality. #OnlyTogether can we avoid a climate catastrophe."