Climate adaptation and finance for developing countries are leading topics at the UN's 13th Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Germany, leaders said today.
Representatives from 40 countries are at the meeting, which started on 17 July and ends on 19 July. Negotiators will discuss climate protection agreements and prepare for the UN Cop 27 climate conference, scheduled to take place in Egypt in November.
A key topic for discussion is the so-called $100bn goal. Developed countries pledged in 2009 to provide $100bn/yr in climate finance to non-developed countries by 2020, but this was missed, and the new target is 2023. Developed countries "have to live up to our responsibilities and promises," German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said.
South African environment minister Barbara Creecy went further and called for developed countries to provide at minimum $1 trillion/yr to help developing countries meet their climate change objectives. It will be necessary to move trillions, European Commission executive vice-president Frans Timmermans said at the same meeting.
"Aligning financial flows must also be a priority for multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, national policy planning and the private sector," Timmermans said. Germany and Canada will submit a progress report on the Climate Finance Delivery Plan.
Development banks, tax systems and public governance must work to direct more money towards green investments, Baerbock said, "and we have to make the private sector chip in even more."
Countries will focus on climate adaptation. Developed countries should double adaptation finance from 2019 levels, Baerbock said. Africa aims to "increase the resilience of [its] population to the adverse impacts of climate change by at least 50pc by 2030 and by at least 90pc by 2050," Creecy said. Climate-related loss and damage is also on the agenda, and Timmermans expressed disappointment in the lack of progress in the Santiago network, which was established to provide technical assistance to developing countries vulnerable to climate change impacts, and to avoid and minimise where possible climate-related loss and damage. The aim is for this to be in full operation by Cop 27.
But negotiations on "loss and damage, finance, adaptation, and the just transition remain trapped in process-related discussions," Creecy said.
Advanced economies will continue to focus on mitigation, despite a temporary increase in fossil fuel consumption, Timmermans and Baerbock said. The EU's RePowerEU plan, which aims to rapidly reduce the bloc's dependence on Russian fossil fuels, lays out a renewed drive towards the transition to renewable energy. Germany will use coal-fired power as an emergency reserve, but "we need more renewables and energy efficiency not only to protect the climate, but to safeguard our energy security," Baerbock said.
A short-term rise in coal burn, as the EU moves away from Russian gas, should not threaten climate goals, energy think tank Ember said last week.
