Environmental activists protest during the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference on November 22, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Photo credit: Reuters

Climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, which were due to end on Friday (November 22, 2024), have been extended by another day after the latest version. The draft agreement was deemed unacceptable. by many developing countries.

Developed countries did not offer more than $250 billion by 2035. New Collective Quantitative Goal for Climate Finance (NCQG) Despite recognizing that at least $700 billion will be needed by 2030 to support developing countries.

Moreover, without a commitment that the money will be provided to developing countries on affordable terms, many countries and civil society groups say it is woefully inadequate to meet the challenges posed by climate change.

Closed-door meetings are still ongoing in Baku, sources said. Hindu Delegates representing the European Union, which constitutes a large part of the developed world donors, considered the demand for one trillion dollars a year “unacceptably high”.

“We will further engage with the parties to collectively agree on final adjustments on a few key but outstanding issues. We will continue to work rigorously, comprehensively and transparently to achieve the highest possible ambitions on all sides.” A statement from the Conference of the Parties (COP) chaired by Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Mukhtar Babayev said on Friday.

NCQG refers to money that will be given by developing countries to help developing countries meet their goals to curb the continued use of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases. They are also important to enable countries to reduce greenhouse gas emission levels by 43% in 2019 by 2030 and to help build resilient systems, to keep pre-industrial temperatures well above 1.5 degrees Celsius. Can be prevented from growing. Even if all countries meet their stated voluntary commitments, this will still only translate to a 2% cut and 0.8% less carbon emissions this year than in 2023, according to the latest scientific assessments. The percentage is likely to increase.

The latest version of the text “…calls on all actors to work together to scale up financing to developing country parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least US$1.3 trillion by 2035. In this context, decides to set a target… led by developed country parties, for developing countries up to US$ 250 billion per year for environmental action… from various sources, Public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources.”

“This is a bad deal for the developing world, regardless of how it is presented by the presidency,” said Vaibhav Chaturvedi, senior fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). “The $1.3 trillion number is a hoax at best. Even an apparent increase in remittances from the developed world to the developing world of $250 billion annually by 2035 equates to $100 billion by 2020 if 6 percent annual average inflation is accounted for. There is no grant or low cost financial component.

The NCQG is expected to be an update of the $100 billion per year pledged by developed countries to developing countries in 2009 to be mobilized from 2020-2025. The 2015 Paris COP committed to NCQG by 2025.

“This is a watered-down and highly compromised version of the objective. It not only subordinates primary fiscal responsibility to a conceptual multilateral target, but also replaces the role of governments with ‘actors’ and private funds.” The level itself is disappointing and below G20 estimates,” said RR Rashmi, former secretary for environment and distinguished fellow, The Energy Resources Institute (TEE). ERI) said.