Climate of denial: Mobilising private capital will be challenging

Private-sector climate finance accounted for 20 per cent of the funds mobilised till 2022. Accelerating this source of funding will require addressing challenges on multiple fronts

Climate finance and how to mobilise it will be the key theme occupying negotiators at the 29th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP29, which will convene in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku between November 11 and 22. With countries, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, facing a shortfall of about $800 billion in climate financing and public funding depleted by the pandemic, policymakers and climate activists are urgently seeking ways to mobilise the vast potential of private-sector financing. This imperative has acquired greater urgency, given the recognition that developing countries, which need to