As the global mid-year climate talks at Bonn reach the penultimate day, the negotiations have got struck on key finance issues like setting up of the “climate finance work programme” and tripling of adaptation finance. Both the issues were agreed upon at COP30 at Belem in 2025, but the developed countries are seem to be dragging their feet during the Bonn talks.
An Indian negotiator, recently, told The Plurals on the sidelines of negotiations at Bonn that financial issues are being discussed with little success. “Yes, financial issues are presently like thorns in the negotiations, with the developed country blocks employing delaying tactics, but the negotiations are going on…both the issues are extremely important for developing countries and emerging economies like India,” the negotiator told this correspondent.
Experts point out that unless the differences on key financial issues can be resolved during the Bonn meeting, which is supposed to finalise the negotiations and action agendas for the next global climate summit, COP31, to be held at Turkey, it may turn out to be critical for global climate negotiations and climate future with World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) having announced recently that the next five years are expected to be highly critical for climatic impacts.
No agreement on finance work programme, adaptation finance
In finance, the setting up of the proposed Climate Finance Work Programme (CFWP), a two-year UNFCCC initiative designed to scale up, track and improve access to climate finance, was decided during COP30 in Belem. But countries are presently struggling in Bonn on its operational details. There has also been little movement on tripling of adaptation finance, which, too, was agreed upon in Belem.
Senior negotiators from other developing countries and independent observers criticised the developed countries for the impasse.
“It was an understanding from COP30 that the climate finance work programme should be on the agenda, and we are still debating whether to have it! India and other developing and emerging economies are supporting us but the developed countries are pushing it back so far,” alleged Amjad Abdulla, chief negotiator of Maldives in Bonn, representing highly vulnerable least developed and island countries, speaking to this correspondent.
Ranga Pallawala, a climate finance expert who works closely with the Sri Lankan government, observed that not only have the developed countries agreed to provide less than one-fourth of climate finance – USD 300 billion per year from 2035, but there also has been little clarity even on its modalities. “We do not know much about the public funding, or its breakdown between mitigation and adaptation money. Here at Bonn, they are yet to provide the clarity and by back-pedalling on the climate finance work programme, they are further making the situation difficult,” said Pallawala. “There has been little movement on the issue of tripling of adaptation finance, too,” pointed out the expert.
No additional financial pledges yet from developed countries
“We have heard from some negotiators and other key persons involved in the meetings that the developed countries are reluctant as there have not many pledges for providing money so far. Though I hope that there will be some breakthrough here, at least in setting up the modalities of the climate finance work programme, but it seems that the major onus will shift to Antaliya COP,” said Marianne Lotz, policy advisor on climate and energy in WWF, Berlin, to The Plurals.
“There is no progress happening in the finance rooms, and this is sending really worrying signals for COP31,” said Rebecca Thissen, global advocacy lead at Climate Action Network International. “This is toxifying every single discussion in other negotiating tracks,” she added.
Discussions on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) ended the first week in Bonn with a request from the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) to include in the future text the COP30 commitment to triple adaptation finance, a demand that was supported by all the developing-country negotiating groups.
The 2035 goal was agreed upon in Belem last November, but lacked details for its implementation. It does not have a baseline against which to calculate the increase in annual funding. That baseline is one key issue that has risen up the agenda at the talks in Bonn.
Developing countries and civil society representatives already have a clear figure for the goal in mind — $120 billion a year – that has been derived from a tripling of the earlier goal of $40 billion a year by 2025.