Agreement on a climate finance deal at COP29 hinges on the ‘moral backbone’ of the leaders of the world’s richest countries, the Global Climate and Health Alliance has said.
As COP29 nears its conclusion, and negotiations over the so-called New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) hang in the balance, the alliance has urged wealthy countries to ‘end their blockade’ and commit to providing at least $1 trillion annually in grants-based climate finance.
It accused delegations from US, EU, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, France, and Japan of stalling the deal by favouring investment-led approaches instead of grants and concessional financing, as stipulated under Article 9 of the Paris Agreement.
The Global Climate and Health Alliance is a consortium of more than 200 health professional and health civil society organisations around the world.
‘Catastrophic implications’
“Before COP29 ends, governments must agree to an ambitious and updated climate finance commitment, the New Collective Quantified Goal”, commented Jess Beagley, policy lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance. “Without adequate climate finance, climate action across sectors will not be viable, which would have catastrophic implications for human health.
“In addition, finance agreed on during COP29 must be predominantly based on grants and not loans to avoid perpetuating cycles of debt, poverty and disease. COP29’s decision on the NCQG will not only ultimately determine the summit’s success but will significantly determine the degree to which people’s health is protected by decision makers.
“This is the moment – leaders of developed countries must step forward to deliver adequate finance. Failure to do so will mean a death sentence for millions.”
Global cooperation
The NCQG aims to finance efforts in developing nations to build resilient health systems, address climate-driven infrastructure challenges, and transition to clean energy, with Dr. Jeni Miller, the alliance’s executive director, highlighted the moral and strategic importance of fulfilling climate finance promises.
“By meeting their financial responsibilities to aid developing countries to address climate change, wealthy countries will ensure better global cooperation on climate, health, trade, and an array of other issues essential to all of our well being, in our globally interconnected world,” she said.
Importantly, the climate finance agreement cannot result in a situation where developing nations are forced to take on more debt, the alliance added, pointing to a United Nations report released in September 2024, which found that several sub-Saharan African countries were paying more on interest and repayment on international loans than they were able to invest in health and education.
“The health community is calling on wealthy and developed countries to make a robust deal at COP29 that provides financial support to these countries; the alternative is not only morally bankrupt, it’s politically boneheaded,” Miller added. Read more here. [Photo: UN Climate Change]
