Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Entwicklung und Humanitäre Hilfe
Kommentar der Anderen | Outside View (EN)
Developing countries cannot reduce and adapt to current and future climate impacts without financial support. For vulnerable communities already bearing the brunt of climate impacts, access to adequate funding is a matter of survival. As the world prepares for COP29 where global leaders will agree on a new climate finance target, the stakes have never been higher.
Outside view by Salomé Lehtman
The impacts of climate change do not affect everyone equally. Low-income countries bear the brunt of a climate crisis they had little hand in creating, and women, girls, and children often suffer these impacts the most. Unless action is taken, these injustices will continue to grow. These communities share a common need: sufficient and adequate funding to cope with, and adapt to, climate change. The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is a critical opportunity to secure funding to help communities build resilience to climate change.
Over 15 years ago, developed countries committed to mobilize $100 billion in climate finance every year by 2020. However, flaws in the design of the target meant that not only was it met two years late, it was also not nearly enough to address the reality of the climate crisis. Furthermore, the actual financial effort by developed countries to support climate action in developing countries is much lower than what official figures seem to suggest.
Much of the available finance is skewed towards efforts to reduce global emissions, which accounted for more than half of public climate finance in 2022. This means there is not enough funding to help people adapt to climate change or recover from its impacts. However, the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance work shows what can be achieved when sufficient funding is allocated to adaptation efforts. In Jordan for example, we work with local authorities to garner support for flood prevention measures and policies, leading to more informed decision-making and ensuring communities become more resilient to climate change.
Moreover, a large portion of the funding is distributed as loans rather than grants. Loans currently make up more than two thirds of all international public climate finance. This is deeply unjust as it places unsustainable debt burdens on low-income countries, forcing them to prioritize debt repayments over critical climate action or investment in essential services, like infrastructure, health and education and creating a vicious circle of vulnerability.
Fragile and conflict-affected situations (which experience high levels of institutional and social fragility and violent conflict) face even greater challenges. These areas, often deemed too risky to attract investments, receive little to no funding for climate action, despite being highly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters. Mercy Corps’ analysis shows that the 10 most fragile states received less than 1% of total climate finance flows. This directly affects communities that cannot be left behind when financing climate action.
The NCGQ represents a pivotal moment in the global response to climate change. The decision will have profound and lasting impacts on the lives of millions of vulnerable communities, making it imperative that the NCQG is just, ambitious, and results in a greater commitment from those most responsible for the climate crisis.
COP29 will mark the culmination of three years of negotiations on the NCQG. The final outcome must go beyond a political compromize and represent a substantial step forward for climate action. The latest report from the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance outlines five tests that the NCQG must pass to be fit for purpose:
Achieving a robust climate finance goal requires bold political decisions and a commitment to climate justice. Mercy Corps urges policymakers to seize the opportunity at COP29 to agree on an ambitious NCQG.
The new global finance goal is not just about financial commitments; it is about the lives and futures of millions of people around the world. If the NCQG lacks ambition, the world risks condemning these communities to a future of greater suffering and instability.
As the world stands at this crossroads, we must choose the path of justice and humanity. Let COP29 be the turning point where we move from crisis to resilience, ensuring that all communities have the chance to not just survive, but thrive in a world increasingly defined by climate change.
Salomé Lehtman is a project and advocacy advisor for Mercy Corps as part of the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance. She is the lead on EU policy and advocacy on climate, with a particular focus on adaptation and loss and damage policy. She also has experience in EU biodiversity and sustainable finance policy.
In the section Outside view, Global Responsibility gives experts the opportunity to comment and share their views on current and relevant development issues. The aim is to facilitate development policy debates, promote democratic discourse and highlight the importance of implementing the 2030 Agenda. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their articles. Global Responsibility does not necessarily share the views expressed.
