A decade-old goal to raise US$100 billion to help developing nations adapt to and mitigate against climate change is unlikely to be met for another two years.
That is the conclusion of a new report from Canadian Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Germany’s state secretary for the environment, Jochen Flasbarth, in a report a week before the United Nations COP 26 climate talks kick off in Scotland.
Wilkinson and Flasbarth were asked by COP26 president designate Alok Sharma in July to come up with a plan to finally deliver on the financing pledges made to raise US$100 billion annually by 2020.
The missing money is likely to be a source of friction when countries meet in Scotland, as developing and small island states least responsible for global-warming are asked along with the wealthiest countries to increase efforts to cut emissions before 2030.
The climate finance promise first made in 2009 was recommitted during the 2015 Paris climate talks and was one of the reasons the world’s least developed and most affected nations agreed to sign on to the accord.
Wilkinson and Flasbarth expect the goal will finally be hit in 2023, before climate financing pledges rise above US$100 billion in both 2024 and 2025.
—Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press
