A new draft for the long-term finance proposal for climate change, called the new collective quantified goal (NCQG), was released on Thursday morning at COP29. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A new draft for the long-term finance proposal for climate change, called the new collective quantified goal (NCQG), was released on Thursday morning at COP29 after a tough week of negotiations.
The draft had no specifics regarding the amount and whether the money would be in the form of grants or loans. But there were positives in that small island nations and the least developed countries would be prioritised. The draft also includes a commitment that climate adaptation would be met in the form of grants.
“The African Group welcomes the new draft decision text on NCQG, now much
streamlined. These 10 pages contain many of the principled positions from the African
Group and other developing countries, although continues to include many of the untenable positions of the developed countries as options in the text,” said Ali Mohamed, Kenya’s special envoy for climate change and chair of the African Group of Negotiators.
“The text does not specify numerical figures for the proposed mobilisation goal, or for the provision element.”
Mohamed said there was unity among groups of countries, in particular the G77 and China on a $1.3 trillion annual mobilisation goal, but the draft document did not contain this and “developed countries need to urgently engage on this matter”, he said.
The overall sentiment is that without a figure on the table, the text on the finance goal is largely unhelpful.
“The new text rightly diagnoses the climate problem, including the required finance for adaptation and energy transition, but glaringly omits what the rich countries will actually provide to developing countries,” said Mohamed Adow, the director and founder of climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa.
“The elephant in the room is the lack of specific numbers in the text. This is the ‘finance COP’. We came here to talk about money. You measure money with numbers. We need a cheque but all we have right now is a blank piece of paper,” he said.
There is concern that without the numbers, there will be no proper outcome.
Tasneem Essop, the executive director of Climate Action Network International, said: “Developed countries knew they were expected to arrive in Baku ready to agree on a meaningful climate finance goal. Instead, they continue to play games with the lives of people on the frontlines of climate disaster, manipulating and undermining these critical negotiations.
“Developing countries should push to ensure that public grants-based funding is prioritised by developed countries, and that there is robust architecture for the monitoring and accountability for the delivery of these public funds. After 10 days, we’re still stuck at the starting line. But the race isn’t over yet — there’s still time to cross the finish line. Everything is still to play for.”
In a plenary session pulled together by the COP presidency to discuss the progress of the text and the latest iteration, countries expressed disappointment with the text.
But there is mention of grant funding and the acknowledgement of avoiding any debt instruments, which is what Global South nations have been pushing for throughout negotiations.