'The finance Cop’ delivers a fragile climate pledge, but leaves questions unanswered

(Global Trade Review, London, 27 November 2024) The two-week-long UN Climate Change Conference (Cop29) ended last week with a contentious pledge by wealthy countries to increase climate finance. While the commitment was criticised by developing nations as insufficient, objections from some of the world’s richest nations meant there was nearly no agreement at all. The landmark pledge of Cop29, nicknamed “the finance Cop” due to its supposed focus on funding the green transition, was an increase of climate finance from the wealthiest countries to the poorest from US$100bn to US$300bn a year by 2035. While this is a clear upgrade – and higher than the originally proposed US$250bn – it is far less than the US$1.3tn that developing countries had sought. It is also unlikely to be enough to mitigate the effects of climate change, with NGO WaterAid’s lead policy analyst for water, sanitation and hygiene finance, Lesley Pories, calling it a “death sentence for the millions on the climate frontlines”. Though the official text of the resolution calls for financing from “all public and private sources” to reach US$1.3tn a year by 2035, it is unclear in practice how this will materialise.