Cop 27: Developing countries push for more finance

Developed countries continue to push for the world's major economies to provide more funding to help them deal with climate change as this year's UN Cop 27 climate talks enter their second week.

A high-level dialogue today at the talks in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, served to help highlight the differences that remain on one of the key issues at this year's Cop: financing for mitigation and adaptation efforts by developing countries.

During the roughly four-hour meeting, officials from developing nations repeatedly called on the developed countries to do more to honor their commitment to the overdue goal of providing $100bn/yr in finance by 2020.

"It continues to be disconcerting that the goal of mobilizing $100bn/yr" in financing "remains unfulfilled," Wael Aboulmagd, special representative of the Cop 27 president, said.

"The scale of finance currently available is appalling," Tuvalu finance minister Seve Paeniu said.

Progress reports presented at the meeting showed developed countries have reached about $80bn/yr in finance and are on track to exceed $100bn as soon as next year.

Officials from a number of major economies all agreed that more can be done and sought to assure the developing countries that they intend to live up to their pledges.

"I completely understand developed countries receiving criticism for that," said Alok Sharma, who served as the Cop 26 president when the UK hosted the talks.

But a number of concerns still remain, including how that money is targeted, the form of the finance and the ease of access for countries that need it. The progress reports also showed that most of the funding to date has gone to emissions mitigation, rather than adaptation efforts.

"We need to have the balance between adaptation and mitigation," Bangladesh climate minister Shahab Uddin said. "It is very clear that this balance is yet to be achieved."

Also of concern is how to define exactly what constitutes climate finance.

Oxfam climate change policy lead Nafkote Dabi told the ministers that as little as $21bn of the $80bn is actually specifically for climate purposes, which much of that money coming in the form of loans that put poorer countries more into debt.

"How can developed countries, who are largely responsible for the climate crisis, justify this?" she said.

The session also showed that another major issue at the Cop, loss and damage, could get drawn into the finance discussion, which so far has been a separate issue on the agenda.

Officials from a number of developing nations used the meeting to push for an agreement at the Cop to create a new UN fund specifically for loss and damage, with the details to be filled in within two years. But many developed countries want to hold off on determining the type of funding mechanism.

Paeniu said that agreeing to the fund this year would provide "a strong political statement that shows the world that we are up to the task."

By Michael Ball