Editorial: Balking at Baku

Last week, India shot down the paltry $300 billion climate finance package for the global south, while pointing out that the CoP29 presidency and the UN climate change office forced through the deal before allowing emerging economies to voice their objections. The adoption process was referred to as unfair and stage-managed, and that it reflected a lack of trust in the UN system. The UN climate conference at Baku adopted a new climate finance package of $300 billion, to be disbursed annually by richer nations to developing countries by 2035. The amount is a meagre one quarter of the $1.3 trillion per year, viewed as the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, which is the amount demanded by the global south as a means to mitigate the fallout of climate change.

While developed countries have historically been responsible for a majority of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions driving climate change, developing countries are the most impacted and are being pushed to transition to low-carbon pathways, even at the cost of their growth. Right now, first world nations are required to provide finance, technology, and capacity-building support to developing and low-income economies to help them cope with a warming world. In 2009, they pledged to provide $100 billion annually by 2020. However, this pledge was only met in 2020, with around 70 per cent of the funds coming in the form of loans. The current sum is incompatible with the principle of CBDR (Common but Differentiated Responsibilities) and equity.

The Baku package also permits developed nations to include climate-related loans from multilateral development banks, such as World Bank, as part of the funding pool. This absolves these nations from amping up the funding beyond the current $100 bn annually until 2035. The nations that supported India’s reservations on the deal included Malawi, Nigeria, Cuba, and Bolivia . Negotiators from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) group and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) had even walked out of the meeting. The LDCs and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have been asking for at least $220 bn and $39 bn, respectively, from the total climate finance package. Developing countries say the NCQG should reflect contributions by developed nations on the basis of their historical contributions to existing carbon concentrations in the atmosphere as well as their per capita GDP.

India today contributes towards 8% of global CO2 emissions. But seen in the context of a nation with a population of 1.4 bn, our per capita emissions should place us in the group of low polluters. Per capita emissions in South Asia are less than 1.5 tonnes, under 1 tonne for Africa , close to 9 tonnes for Europe, and a staggering 17 tonnes for North America. Even if most nations adhered by their stated voluntary commitments, it would entail only a 2% cut. This is telling when you consider that this year, carbon emissions will likely spike by 0.8% over 2023.

Stakeholders have called for making the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change a tighter solution driven platform where countries must report the strides made and be held accountable for their pledges. There is also a need to develop multiple sectoral and regional fora that can help the global south in implementing decisive reforms and undertake measures such as adopting carbon dioxide removal technologies, without which the fight against climate change will remain toothless and pointless for decades together.