Developing nations demand upto $900 bn in public climate finance at COP29

Developing countries are asking for up to $900 billion in public funding from a total of $1.3 trillion they seek from developed nations in the new climate finance package for reducing emissions and adapting to the growing impacts of climate change.

Negotiators told PTI that the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) group has called for $ 600 billion in public funding, supplemented by private finance at concessional rates to meet the $1.3 trillion goal.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is pushing for $900 billion in government funding, while the Arab Group has proposed $440 billion.

Although developed countries have yet to officially propose a figure, their negotiators indicated that European Union nations are discussing a global climate finance target of $200 billion to $300 billion per year.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told reporters that developed countries want to ascertain the package's components before committing to a specific figure.

At a press conference highlighting the unity among developing countries, Diego Pacheco, lead negotiator for the LMDC, was asked about the EU's proposed $ 200 to $ 300 billion figure.

His response was short but cutting: "Is this a joke?"  The G77, the largest negotiating bloc at the UN climate talks with over 130 developing nations, has demanded that the next draft text on the new climate finance package include a headline figure in the trillions.

"We need this figure as a headline in the text... The rest can be negotiated in the coming days," said Adonia Ayebare, the G77 chair.

At the core of this year's UN climate talks is a new climate finance goal to help developing nations cut emissions and adapt to worsening climate impacts.

Developing countries argue that they need at least $ 1.3 trillion annually -- 13 times the $ 100 billion pledged in 2009 -- to address growing challenges.

However, trust remains fragile. Developed nations only met the $ 100 billion target in 2022, two years late, with around 70 per cent of the funds provided as loans, further burdening nations already grappling with climate disasters.

Developing nations are pressing for most of the funding to come directly from developed countries' public budgets. They reject heavy reliance on private-sector contributions, which they argue prioritize profit over accountability.

But the developed world, led by the US and EU, wants a broader global investment goal that taps into public, private, domestic, and international sources. They are also calling on wealthier nations like China and Gulf states -- classified as developing in 1992 -- to contribute, citing their changed economic status.

Developing countries see it as an attempt to dodge responsibility for historical emissions by shifting the burden to those who industrialized more recently.

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev is holding out hope for a timely closure of talks, but the odds are slim as developed and developing nations remain locked in a standoff over the thorniest issues.