COP29: Wealthy nations urged to increase Climate funds

Action Aid has called on wealthy, polluting nations of the Global North to significantly increase their climate finance contributions at the ongoing COP29 conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The organisation has emphasised the urgent need for developed countries to provide substantial funding for climate action, particularly in areas of adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage for countries in the Global South.

During a press briefing on the opening day of COP29 on Monday, Teresa Anderson, the head of Action Aid's delegation, criticised the lack of financial commitment from the world's wealthiest nations.

Anderson pointed to the 2022 climate finance report, which showed that developed countries had only provided between $28-35 billion in grants for climate action in the Global South.

For comparison, she pointed out that the world spent twice as much on ice cream in the same year, $71 billion.

Anderson further warned that shifting the burden of escalating climate costs onto the Global South was not only unjust but also posed a grave risk to the planet's future.

"This is why climate-hit countries desperately need COP29 to agree on a new climate finance goal that delivers real value – trillions of dollars in grants each year," she said.

The global climate finance gap remains a critical issue as countries and communities in the Global South face worsening climate impacts.

"They say there is no such thing as a free lunch—well, there's no such thing as a free climate target either. If we're serious about climate action, we have to pay for climate action," Anderson added.

Michelle Higelin, Executive Director of ActionAid Australia, also pointed out that rich, polluting nations must step up their financial commitments at COP29.

"Wealthy countries have a responsibility to provide climate finance, but they are failing in this obligation," Higelin said.

"We want them to commit to grant-based finance and not loans," she added and urged Australia to follow through on its promises to support Pacific nations in responding to the climate crisis.

"Australia often talks about supporting our Pacific neighbours to respond to the climate crisis—now is the time to put that solidarity into action," she said.

The devastating effects of climate change were highlighted by Nura Ahmed Mohamed, Action Aid's country programme manager in Somaliland, who stressed that climate change is not just an environmental crisis, but a humanitarian one with significant gendered impacts.

"Increasingly frequent droughts and flash floods threaten the lives and livelihoods of countless families, but the toll is particularly harsh on women and girls," Nura said.

Mosammat Dulali, a community member from the Kalapara region in Southern Bangladesh, shared her personal experience of the increasing severity of climate disasters.

"In my childhood, I didn't witness disasters as severe as those in recent years, especially from 2007 to 2024," Mosammat noted, reflecting on how her community has been increasingly impacted by climate change.

COP29, which runs from November 11 to 22, 2024, is being closely watched as a pivotal moment for climate action.

The conference has become a platform for leaders to either meet or fail the growing expectations for a just and equitable climate finance system.