Al Gore, a former vice president of the United States, opened the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, also known as COP 27, at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh by saying, “We are not doing enough.” The summit, which has been conducted every year since 1992, took place from November 6–18, 2022, and is yet another attempt to engage the world’s governments in a meaningful discussion about climate change. The most recent summit of this kind, COP-26, took place in Glasgow, United Kingdom, last year when numerous pledges from wealthy and poor nations were made.
Developing countries have a lot of questions about climate financing, including: “Who will pay the cost for the drastic actions required to save the planet? Is $100 billion per year sufficient to carry out the wonderful commitments made by the Community of Nations?” The 2009 COP-15 offer in Copenhagen, Denmark, which pledged to provide $100 billion in aid yearly as countries began to uphold their commitments, has been replaced by the current offer of $200 billion.
The UN states that in order to combat climate change, emissions must be reduced, adaptation to the consequences that are already present must be encouraged, and resilience must be built. However, the returns on these investments far outweigh any upfront costs. Clean energy systems, prudent water management, wiser urban development, sustainable land use, a sustainable industrial sector, low carbon emissions, and smarter public transportation systems, to name a few, would all particularly fall under the category of climate financing expenditures. The Standing Committee on Finance’s co-chair, Zaheer Fakir, disagrees, stating that “the $100 billion help is not enough” to fund the massive climate improvements required over the next ten years.
The next 10-15 years represent a singular “use it or lose it” period in economic history, according to the New Climate Economy Report, published in 2018. By 2030, we anticipate investing more in infrastructure than the entire present stock, or around US$90 trillion. The study found that the past 19 years have included 18 of the warmest years on record, raising concerns about the security of food and water as well as raising the frequency and intensity of calamities like wildfires.” Future growth and prosperity will be significantly influenced by how sustainable this infrastructure is.”Ensuring that this infrastructure is sustainable will be a critical factor in determining future growth and prosperity.”
The paper claims that by 2030, effective action will benefit the globe in the amount of $26 trillion, but such enormous advantages cannot be obtained with an investment of only $100 billion. China and, more significantly, India have disavowed responsibility for global emissions and insisted that western nations shoulder the primary responsibility for climate financing, despite India being one of the most vulnerable nations to the effects of climate change, ranking 7th out of 181 countries in the Global Climate Risk Index 2021. India, which has demanded that the term “climate financing” be understood, has mostly funded its climate obligations internally and with the assistance of private businesses. To make a difference and battle climate change by 2030, India needs $100 billion in additional climate money per year for the next ten years. India and the US recently decided to create a new agreement for developing nations to get climate finance support. However, COP-27 must arm India and other developing countries with the resources they need to combat global warming.
As the costs of combating and adapting to climate change have increased, developing countries, including India, have expressed their worries at COP 27 about a new global climate finance target by 2024, commonly known as the new collective quantified goal on climate financing (NCQG). Even while rich countries raised $83 billion in 2020 for climate financing, this amount is far short of what is required to address the issue on a global level. According to a UNEP estimate, developing nations will require yearly adaptation funding of between $160 billion and $340 billion by 2030 and between $315 billion and $565 billion by 2050.
There is no doubt that there is a massive fresh push of all countries towards climate change, but it is pitifully falling short of the enormous financial needs of a sustainable society. Years, decades, and conferences keep pushing the envelope.