ActionAid slams rich countries’ climate finance tactics

BY STEVE EPHRAEM

AT COP29, negotiations on climate finance have reached a critical juncture.

Teresa Anderson, ActionAid International’s Global Lead on Climate Justice, on November 13, 2024, criticised rich countries’ tactics, saying that they are pushing weak language to avoid providing real grant-based finance.

“This is a sprawling and unstructured document which includes every possible idea, option, and permutation. The text reflects developing countries’ need for a goal worth trillions of dollars in grant-based finance so they can cope with the climate crisis.

“It also includes developed countries’ preferred language on an ‘investment layer’ which emphasises loans, corporate investment, and other finance flows that could potentially do more harm than good. 

  “The ‘investment’ language that rich countries are pushing hard is clearly a bare-faced pitch to avoid providing real grant-based finance and instead use frontline countries’ desperation to open up to more corporate exploitation.

“COP29 negotiations would be more likely to make progress if negotiations focus on areas where there is already consensus, such as the principle that the core of the goal should be public finance,” said Teresa.

As COP29 negotiations continue, the world watches, hoping for a breakthrough that puts people and the planet above corporate interests.