COP29 ends with contentious outcome

Following two weeks of wrangling between the delegations of developing and developed countries, the COP29 United Nations climate change conference finally concluded, more than 30 hours past its deadline, with the adoption of a climate finance target criticized by one Global South representative as "a joke".

Some observers, however, while expressing their regret over the $300 billion per year commitment from developed nations to developing economies by 2035, said that the renewed target has at least provided a base on which parties can build.

A key task of COP29, officially known as the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which began on Nov 11 in Baku, Azerbaijan, was to establish a 2025-35 climate finance target to facilitate climate actions in the Global South, where countries have disproportionately suffered from the impact of climate change.

The target is officially known as the New Collective Quantified Goal.

As the UN climate talks came to a contentious end early Sunday morning, developed countries finally pledged to contribute at least $300 billion annually by 2035. Parties also agreed on the rules for a UN-backed global carbon market, which is expected to provide incentive to countries to reduce emissions and invest in climate-friendly projects by facilitating the cross-border trading of carbon credits.

However, the $300 billion target is far short of meeting developing countries' needs — $1.3 trillion per year — and has been harshly criticized by representatives of the Global South.

Meena Raman, a representative of the Third World Network, an independent, nonprofit international research and advocacy organization, said that as COP29 concluded, developed countries once again escaped their obligations to commit to the provision of significant public resources to developing countries.

Without commensurate ambition on finance, developed countries expect developing countries to show greater ambition on climate mitigation and adaptation, Raman said.

"This is not just a joke, but a serious insult to developing countries, as they (developed nations) pretend with slogans to keep the 1.5 C alive, abdicating their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement and risking lives of the poor and wrecking the planet," she said.

Regarding the climate finance target, Rob Moore, associate director of the independent climate change think tank E3G, said, "The goal is undeniably lower than many hoped for."

The goal still leaves a big gap to fill, especially a drastic need to scale up public adaptation finance, he said. But it "provides a platform on which parties can build".

"Setting the goal (at) this COP was essential, and doing so shows that in challenging geopolitical circumstances, many countries retain the will to work together, even when it's challenging," he said.

Belem, a Brazilian metropolis near the mouth of the Amazon River, is preparing to host COP30 in 2025.

Zhao Yingmin, head of China's COP29 delegation, also expressed regret over the climate finance target while addressing the closing session.

"The financial obligations of developed countries must be further clarified," he said.

Zhao called for intensified solidarity of the international community to cope with the global climate crisis, and also reiterated China's unswerving determination to safeguard climate multilateralism.

The journey of climate governance since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change went into effect 30 years ago has been fraught with challenges, yet progress continues steadily, said Zhao.

Regardless of the evolving international landscape, China, as a responsible developing major country, will make consistent efforts to promote the multilateral process of tackling climate change and international cooperation, he emphasized.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his COP29 closing statement, stressed that climate finance is "priority No 1" against the backdrop of the Baku conference coming at the close of a brutal year seared by record temperatures and scarred by climate disaster, as emissions continue to rise.

Developing countries, which have been swamped by debt, pummeled by disasters and left behind in the renewables revolution, are in desperate need of funds, he said.