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The new collective quantified goal (NCQG) target of US$300 billion by 2035 is too low compared to the needs, and the horizon of meeting the target is too far, climate experts said in a press conference on Wednesday.
There is no clarity on instruments whether it would be grants or loans, they argued, adding the COP29 conference involved all actors to achieve a 1.3 trillion finance target by 2035 without placing sole responsibility on developed countries.
The finance decision aims to promote the private sector as a major contributor to climate finance, which risks profit-oriented instruments, predominantly loans, and other neoliberal financial instruments, which could undermine climate justice, they added.
Climate Justice Alliance- Bangladesh, a platform of 42 civil society oirganisations (CSOs) and development partners, organised the press briefing at National Press Club in the city.
During the press conference the speakers also pointed out that after ten years of discussions, COP29 has finally agreed on rules of carbon trading under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which makes the carbon market fully operational.
The regulations regarding international carbon trading under Article 6.2 and a centralized carbon market under Article 6.4 have now been finalized, they added.
However, these are flawed by issues with accountability mechanisms and significant complexity, the speakers further said.
COP29 also decided to launch the ‘Baku Adaptation Roadmap’ and ‘Baku High Level Dialogue’ aiming at advancing the progress of the ‘Paris Agreement’ and supporting the implementation UAE framework to meet the global goal on adaptation (GGA), they added.
Chief executive at the Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD) Md Shamsuddoha delivered a keynote paper at the event titled, “COP 29 Outcomes: North-Persuaded Neoliberal Policy Instruments Failed the Climate Justice.”
The press conference was aimed at depicting the scenario of achievements drawn from the recently concluded COP 29 conference in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, against expectations from it.
In his keynote presentation, Shamsuddoha said that the COP29 underscored and encouraged creating fiscal space in developing country parties through the use of innovative instruments, such as first-loss instruments, guarantees, local currency financing, and foreign exchange risk instruments, which indicates a clear motive of the developed countries to embed neoliberal instruments in the climate finance regime, which directly contravenes climate justice.
But the nations could not reach an agreement on how to move forward with the conclusions of last year’s ‘global stock take’, intended to transition away from fossil fuels.
However, they passed forward the decision to COP30 in Brazil next year, though it required immediate finalization to ensure alignment with the 1.5°C goal, he said.
In addition, he highlighted that the COP presidency has been following a common practice of pushing decisions for endorsement by parties at the eleventh hour since the COP15 in 2009, allowing little space for final effective negotiation from the developing countries.
This clearly indicates a colonial mindset of the developed countries to forcibly impose their own models on the weaker nations with no remarkable protests from the latter, he said.
The COP29 decision texts, particularly, on NCQG have also been finalized in a similar fashion disregarding the voices of the global south, he added.
Dhaka University professor Dr Suborna Barua criticised the loophole ‘game’ by the developed countries with regard to climate finance.
“The section 8(c) of the NCQG text has given formality to the financial flows through multilateral development banks (MDBs), significantly eroding the space for the developing countries to argue for grants-based climate finance in the future COPs,” he added.
Md Ziaul Haque, Director, Air Quality Management, Department of Environment, Manish Kumar Agrawal, Country Director, Concern Worldwide, Bangladesh, Shamsuddin Illias, executive director, The Climate Watch, spoke on the occasion, where representatives from different civil society organizations were also present.