Reacting to discussions at the G20 negotiations in Rio, being held in parallel to the COP29 climate talks, Teresa Anderson, the Global Lead on Climate Justice at ActionAid International, said:
“The rumors from the G20 negotiations in Brazil today seem to confirm the current framework under the UNFCCC, which is that developed countries are obliged to provide climate finance while developing countries can voluntarily provide climate finance. Rich countries at COP29 are hoping to break up that framework, and extend finance obligation onto developing countries.
Developing country ministers in Baku will be relieved that their colleagues in Rio are staying on message.
There’s a lot of talk by developed countries that China should be on the hook for climate finance. However, China is already making significant voluntary contributions, even though their per capita historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions is actually still far lower than those of developed countries. The concern is that the pressure to add developing countries to the list of contributors is not, in fact, about raising more money for frontline countries. Rich countries are just trying to point the finger and have an excuse to provide less finance. That’s not the way to address runaway climate breakdown, and is a distraction from the real issues at stake.”
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Teresa is in Baku and available for interviews.
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About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.