When this year’s UN Climate Summit, COP29, started in Azerbaijan on November 11th, we knew world leaders had to deliver one clear and crucial task: to agree on an ambitious “New Collective Quantified Goal” – NCQG if you like COP acronyms, or a new Climate Finance goal if you prefer more accessible language. Simply put, what this means is that rich and polluting global North countries need to put forward financing for a quick and just energy transition around the world.
The negotiations were tense. Hours before the conference ended, delegations from Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC) walked out of a meeting with the host, saying Azerbaijani presidency was ignoring their interests. And when the final text was finally presented, it fell short on expectations: developed countries committed to only “at least $300 billion per year” from public and private – a figure that risks deepening the debt burden for vulnerable nations who are already paying the price of the climate crisis.
“Once again, inequity has driven a hard bargain that the vulnerable have no choice but to accept. Rich countries have failed to honor their responsibilities, and shown up with rigid unwillingness to meet this moment with the ambition required to address the climate crisis. As this deal gets pushed through in this dark, disappointing moment, we continue to stand in solidarity with those most impacted by both – a crisis they did not cause, and a result they could not influence.”
This disappointing agreement comes at the end of a record-breaking year for climate impacts, with temperatures, floods, hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires that have caused destruction and devastation to communities and ecosystems all over the world. Climate impacts alone cost developing countries hundreds of billions (what in COP-talk is referred as “loss and damage”), without counting the added costs of a just equitable transition to renewable energy and of adapting national infrastructure to a changing climate, like rising seas or floods and stronger storms.
The US$ 300 billion goal is an improvement on the previous US$100 billion set 15 years ago, but it still falls extremely short of the amount needed to support vulnerable nations in adapting to climate impacts, transitioning to renewable energy, and ensuring a just and equitable response to the climate crisis.
What’s good and enough Climate Finance?
Our movement asks for at least US$1 trillion per year by 2030 in good quality funding. Anything less than this won’t deliver climate justice or meet the needs of those hit hardest by the crisis.
What we demand is Climate Finance that delivers:
Grants, not loans with high interest rates. Climate justice demands that finance prioritizes grants over loans to avoid deepening debt in vulnerable countries, and that public funds take precedence over private investments that put profits over people.
Funding agreements that are transparent and accountable. Climate finance must move quickly, transparently, and with full accountability. Everyone impacted, especially local communities, need to have fair and easy access to relevant information.
Local leadership. Meaningful change needs to be grounded in local contexts and needs. Locals must have direct stake, ownership and decision-making power at all stages.
Money going to real solutions. Any solutions that extend the lifespan of fossil fuel energy or have high social risks are not aligned with the rapid and just transition to renewables.
We know the money to make this possible exists, it just needs to go in the right direction: stopping investments and subsidies in dirty fossil fuels and taxing the ultra-rich, financial transactions and extractive industries could raise trillions annually — unlocking critical funds for climate finance, bolstering public services, and driving healthier, more equitable, and sustainable communities.
We’re not backing down
Despite the underwhelming results of COP29, we’re not backing down. During COP29 we have shown our power – in Azerbaijan and around the world.
We made our voices heard in the corridors of power. We organized and joined several press conferences, protested and called out major players like the UAE and Brazil to set better goals for renewable energy and cutting out fossil fuels. When we saw that Ambition was definitely missing, we went looking for it.
We fiercely supported Indigenous Leadership rising as a chance to change the balance of power. We are collaborating with indigenous leaders demanding that Indigenous Peoples, our planet’s original guardians, lead global climate talks in Brazil and Australia. We also helped launch the Brazilian indigenous movement’s campaign called “The Answer Is Us”, demanding the co-presidency of COP30 in Brazil.
When world leaders were meeting at COP29 in Baku and G20 in Rio de Janeiro, we called for energy justice. We launched “Energy of the People” – a community-led campaign for clean, reliable energy in the Brazilian Amazon showing that a just transition is not just about energy, it’s also about human rights, inclusion, and systemic change to enable communities to make their own decisions about their energy choices.
We launched our Tax Their Billions dossier and made it clear billionaires should pay for climate finance. A wealth tax on the super-rich governments could not only raise the trillions needed to act on the climate crisis – but they could also help reduce wealth inequality between the richest and poorest. The launch at COP29 was followed with actions in Europe and Brazil.
Photo credit: Leo M. Sabangan II.
And we showed – once again – we’re strong and mighty. During COP29, millions of people around the world people mobilized to build pressure for ambitious climate commitments and for rich countries to pay up what they owe. Climate Finance is not charity: it’s a debt rich polluting nations have with the rest of the world, and an investment in our future – and we won’t accept any half payments.
The renewables revolution is unstoppable and we’re making it happen. Next year, we’ll double down on our efforts to build strength within our communities. Alongside partners, we are campaigning to deliver community-centered renewable energy solutions, and to implement a global wealth tax targeting billionaires and polluters to pay for it.
In April, we’ll gather more than 200 activists for a climate leaders training in Brazil – to unleash a new wave of campaigns and mobilizations focused on powering up solutions to the climate crisis. And at next year’s UN Climate Summit, COP30 in the Brazilian Amazon, we’ll make sure the right people are sitting on the leadership table: not fossil fuels lobbyists, but Indigenous peoples, Small Island Developing States, Global South communities, and the international climate movement.
Countries can still deliver on ambition
We need to ensure that the fight to limit global heating to 1.5°C remains front and center – and that means we need more ambition! Countries still have a chance to show up for climate action and leadership – raising their ambition through updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are each countries’ national climate action plans.
By early 2025, countries are expected to submit new NDCs for the period 2025 – 2035. These new climate action plans are so important because they will guide us in what may be our last window of opportunity to secure a livable planet for all. What we do now, in the next five or ten years, will define if we manage to keep global heating to a safe level or if we unleash a climate point of no return.
Brazil is now the host of the next UN Climate Summit, and needs to start showing climate leadership now – ensuring the fight for climate justice, human rights, and robust international cooperation are at the forefront of all the roads that will lead us to CP30.
“After three years of UN climate talks being hosted in petro-states, it’s time to correct the course. Next year’s COP in the Brazilian Amazon offers a unique opportunity to put people, climate solutions and affordable renewable energy front and center. Indigenous people in Brazil are leading the way but we need the Brazilian government to follow suit. ”
– Ilan Zugman, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at 350.org,
Now is the time to push our governments to show more climate ambition!
We’ll not back down.
DEMAND CLIMATE AMBITION
