UN Climate Change Conference misses funding targets for developing economies

The 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) held in Baku, as reported by Wired, did not achieve the planned goals for approving the volume of funding for environmental programs and was accompanied by heated discussions and a demarche of some delegates. Countries with growing economies will be able to claim at most $300 billion in aid annually instead of the previously planned $1.3 trillion.

Image source: Unsplash, NOAA

As the source notes, discussions on the sidelines of COP29 were not only very emotional and extended the conference work schedule by 33 hours until late Sunday night, but also disappointed representatives of those countries that suffer from climate change to a large extent, but cannot effectively combat it exclusively at our own expense. The resolution signed by the event participants states that countries with developed economies will collectively allocate $300 billion annually in financial assistance to countries with growing economies to combat climate change until 2035. The original version of the document included an amount of $1.3 trillion per year, but in the final version it was advisory rather than mandatory.

Moreover, the document does not explain from what sources these funds will be generated. Participants in the process hope that clarification will be given at a similar event next year, which will be held in Brazil. It is noteworthy that China, in the documentation approved by the UN since 1992, has retained its status as a country with a growing economy, and therefore is not required to make mandatory contributions to finance programs to combat climate change, although Chinese industry is considered the largest source of greenhouse gases in the world, and The national economy has now become the second largest in the world. China, according to the current conditions, can make appropriate contributions on a voluntary basis, but no one obliges it to do so.