The COP29 talks in Azerbaijan have ended with a weak deal to provide low-income countries with money to tackle the climate crisis.
Governments at the summit agreed that developing countries hardest hit by the crisis will receive $300bn a year by 2035. The money, known as ‘international climate finance’, is intended to support low-income countries to prepare for climate disasters and rebuild after emergencies.
But governments failed to guarantee this money would be provided as grants, rather than loans. This risks worsening the debt crisis that many countries on the frontline of the climate emergency are facing.
Governments at the COP in Azerbaijan also agreed a further, long-term target of $1.3tn in climate finance by 2035, but without plans on how to raise this. Campaigners, including CAFOD supporters, have called for governments to fund more climate finance by taxing big polluters such as fossil fuel companies.
