COP29: Wealthy nation face reckoning on climate promises

Stanley Ihedigbo

As world leaders gather in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the highly anticipated COP29 climate summit, ActionAid International’s Global Lead on Climate Justice, Teresa Anderson, sounds the alarm on the devastating impact of climate change on vulnerable nations.

“Frontline countries, least responsible for the climate crisis, are being pushed deeper into debt as they bear the brunt of climate-related disasters, adaptation costs, and transition to green technologies,” Anderson emphasizes.

With the climate crisis escalating, Anderson stresses that COP29 must deliver a new climate finance goal worth trillions of dollars in grants annually to support climate-hit countries.

But instead of committing to provide the money to avert climate catastrophe, wealthy polluting countries are trying to avoid their responsibility. Not only are they trying to pass the buck onto Global South countries to pay, but they are also calling for exploitative loans and corporate investment to make up the bulk of the new climate finance goal.

COP29 is a test of wealthy countries’ commitment to securing a liveable planet. If we want to unleash climate action on a scale that can save our future, the countries that have caused the climate crisis must pay to fix the mess. Whatever the cost, paying for ambitious climate action now will be far cheaper than the cost of catastrophe later.”

Senior Policy Analyst, ActionAid USA, Kelly Stone, says, “Climate finance is the core of an equitable, fair share approach to climate action. The world can only meet the goals of the Paris Agreement if everyone does their part, and for rich, developed countries like the US that includes real, grant-based climate finance.

Pushing forward market-mechanisms in place of climate finance is unacceptable. Market mechanisms are not climate finance. These mechanisms promote offsetting – letting countries and companies pay to avoid cutting their own emissions, which the world cannot afford, and which does not fulfill developed countries’ climate finance obligations.”

County Director, ActionAid Bangladesh, Farah Kabir, says: “We want to remind world leaders at COP29 that as they drag their feet on climate action, countries in the Global South, like Bangladesh, continue to suffer the worst impacts of the climate crisis despite doing little to cause it. 2024 has been Bangladesh’s worst year yet. In June, we were hit by cyclone Remal, which affected over 4.7 million people. Before we could even recover from this, Bangladesh was hit by extensive flooding in August, affecting over 5 million people.

Communities in the Global South do not have the luxury of time. Time lost means more lives lost, greater destruction of property and livelihoods and more severe food insecurity. We need climate finance now. These funds can unlock our communities’ ability to build resilience against the impacts of the climate crisis and shift to greener pathways.”