Developing Nations, NGOs Reject ‘Disaster’ COP29 Climate Deal

Branded a “disaster,” the COP29 climate conference ended in chaos and anger in the early hours of Sunday morning, as wealthy countries delivered a deal on finance that was roundly rejected by key developing nations.

In the final text of an agreement hashed out at the conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, wealthy nations agreed to deliver $300 billion in climate aid for developing countries by 2035 “from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources.” But poorer nations, which have done the least to cause climate change but suffer the most from its consequences, had called on their rich counterparts to deliver at least $1.3 trillion in no-strings-attached grants to help them to deal with climate impacts.

In a stunning, historical blow for the UN’s key climate event, India rejected the deal, with representative Chandni Raina stating it had been gavelled through without the country’s approval. “This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face. Therefore, we oppose the adoption of this document,” Raina said.

So far, Nigeria, Malawi and Bolivia are known to have joined India in rejecting the COP outcome, with Nigeria branding the deal a “joke.” Ralph Regenvanu, envoy for small island nation Vanuatu, stated: “The dollar amounts pledged and the emissions reductions promised are not enough. They were never going to be enough. And even then, based on our experience with such pledges in the past, we know they will not be fulfilled.”

Vanuatu is now looking ahead to December, when it will lead a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague to request an opinion clarifying the legal obligations of countries to combat climate change and protect vulnerable communities.

‘Betrayal’

Civil society organizations from the Global South have roundly condemned the COP deal. The Climate Action Network (CAN), which represents more than 1,900 organizations in 130 countries, framed the outcome as a “betrayal,” with CAN executive director Tasneem Essop saying: “This has been the most horrendous climate negotiations in years due to the bad faith of developed countries. This was meant to be the finance COP, but the Global North turned up with a plan to betray the Global South.”

Teresa Anderson, global lead on climate justice at ActionAid International, said that the agreement was “not worth the paper it’s written on,” and pointed out that the money offered would end up further indebting already poor countries. “Superficially the numbers may look bigger than the previous $100 billion climate finance goal,” Anderson said. “But scratch the surface, and this is packed full of loans. In order to artificially bulk out the numbers with existing funding streams, it is trying to count everything, everywhere all at once, while also shifting the burden onto developing countries.”

Mohamed Adow, director of Kenya-based think tank Power Shift Africa, said that the COP was “a disaster for the developing world. Rich countries have promised to ‘mobilise’ some funds in the future, rather than provide them now. The cheque is in the mail. But lives and livelihoods in vulnerable countries are being lost now.”

“The supposed ‘COP of climate finance’ has turned into the ‘COP of false solutions’,” added Kirtana Chandrasekaran of Friends of the Earth International. “The terrible deal on finance destroys the notion of historical responsibility of the rich big polluting countries and pushes private debt creating finance.”

Are The COPs Doomed?

This year’s two-week conference had already been marred by controversy, with the presidency committing a series of blunders, and the chief executive of Azerbaijan’s organising team caught on camera discussing oil and gas deals with an undercover investigator. In the final days of the summit, it was revealed by the Guardian newspaper that the conference presidency had sent official negotiating documents to delegates from Saudi Arabia, apparently with the intention of allowing the oil-rich nation to edit the text.

In light of controversies at this and other recent COPs, some senior figures and climate experts have openly called for a complete reformation of the COP process. On November 15, veteran climate diplomats from the Club of Rome, which includes former heads of state and other high-ranking officials, issued an open letter calling for significant changes to the way the COPs are managed, including changes to how COP presidencies and host nations are selected.

There is little time to waste. Earlier this month, Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service forecast that 2024 was “virtually certain” to be the hottest year in human history, and would likely be the first full year to surpass warming of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.