With COP29 in Baku now in its final day, parties are yet to reach agreement on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) that will shape climate financing for years to come – with twot options now on the table.
“I urge every party to step-up, pick-up the pace, and deliver,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in an address on Thursday afternoon.
Ahead of an updated text, which is expected today, variety of NGOs and representative groups have weighed in on the draft text.
‘Everything is still to play for’
Tasneem Essop, executive director, Climate Action Network International, said, “The latest draft NCQG text remains glaringly incomplete without the concrete numbers for the finance goal – the very cornerstone of any agreement at COP29 and the unwavering demand of developing countries throughout this summit. Developed countries knew they were expected to arrive in Baku ready to agree on a meaningful climate finance goal. Instead, they continue to play games with the lives of people on the frontlines of climate disaster, manipulating and undermining these critical negotiations. They need to put the numbers on the table now, or we run the risk of not getting an outcome.
“Developing countries should push to ensure that public grants-based funding is prioritised by developed countries, and that there is robust architecture for the monitoring and accountability for the delivery of these public funds. After ten days, we’re still stuck at the starting line. But the race isn’t over yet – there’s still time to cross the finish line. Everything is still to play for.”
‘This is not charity’
Joseph Sikulu, Pacific director, 350.org and Pacific Climate Warrior commented “We hoped to see a draft text today that would show rich nations putting their money where their mouth is and responding to the demands from the Global South. What we got is a text with no clear grant based core money.
“Nothing less than one trillion dollars in grants per year will be enough to see those most impacted by climate change on a just transition towards a safe, equitable future. Rich countries must stop dithering, and start delivering – this is not charity, it’s time for them to pay their debt.”
‘Brazen lack of will’
Gerry Arances, executive director, Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) – Philippines, noted, “The clock is ticking for developed nations to put forward a finance goal that begins to give justice to the death and devastation suffered by vulnerable peoples of the Global South. In Southeast Asia, coal and gas still received nearly three times as much financing as renewables since the Paris Agreement, fueled largely by Global Northern firms and governments. This, despite nearly 400 GW of renewables already being proposed across the region.
“There’s no lack of finance to confront the climate crisis; there’s only the brazen lack of will from historical polluters to pay up on their accountabilities.”
‘Quantum proposals’
Marlene Achoki, global policy lead, CARE International, said, “The presidency proposal draft text offers a range of options and it lacks specific numerical targets to establish a quantified goal, the VERY purpose of COP29! Where is the number?
“This is the finance COP: it is about a clear and ambitious commitment that would enable vulnerable communities to address the impacts of climate change. We need developed countries’ concrete quantum proposals that show leadership and ambition, with a high percentage to provision of grant based climate finance as opposed to mobilisation and channelling climate finance through MDBs that increase the debt status of developing countries.”
‘Step up its game’
Stela Herschmann, climate policy specialist, Climate Observatory, commented, “The new text brings two diametrically different options, reflecting the deadlock we have seen since negotiations started. It also lacks the level of ambition of the NCQG.
“Without numbers on the table and with opposite views of what a new goal should look like, it is unclear how parties will find a common ground. The presidency needs to step up its game to make parties move to a positive outcome.”
‘Avoid responsibility’
Adrian Martinez Blanco, director, La Ruta del Clima, commented, “While people drown in floods, die of thirst and suffer extreme loss and damage, the Global North negotiators are finding ways to avoid responsibility and save their pennies.
“COP29 is stressing the pillars of multilateral space, with proposals to discard an NCQG. We demand fulfilments of obligations to provide funding for Loss and Damage. COP29 has to open the pathway for resources and justice for frontline communities. If it fails, then we will need to find justice at courts demanding our right for climate reparations.”
‘Hollow words’
Harjeet Singh, global engagement director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative said, “The revised draft text, while more streamlined, presents a spectrum of options—some good, some bad, and some outright ugly. It recognises the need to prioritise grants but remains silent on the critical scale of the new finance goal, instead shifting pressure onto developing countries to mobilise more domestic resources.
“We must focus not only on the vast sums required—trillions, as acknowledged—but on ensuring these funds are provided as grants, not loans, to shield nations most impacted by climate change from further financial burdens. Alarmingly, the text lacks clear financial sub-goals for mitigation, adaptation, and addressing loss and damage—areas where needs have skyrocketed while resources remain scarce. True support for a just transition away from fossil fuels must include robust public finance, not hollow words.”
‘An ecological catastrophe’
Kelly Dent, director of external affairs, World Animal Protection, said, “The NCQG text unveiled at COP29 is an alarming betrayal. Developed countries are once again dodging their responsibilities and hoarding the critical climate finance that the Global South desperately needs. As well keeping 1.5°C alive— this is about justice for small scale producers, family farmers and the millions who sustain our world and yet remain abandoned with mere scraps of the promised funds. Even less is invested in sustainable, agroecological practices that could revolutionise our fight against climate collapse.
“This failure isn’t just a human tragedy – it’s an ecological catastrophe. Entire ecosystems, already buckling under the weight of climate change, are on the brink. Wildlife faces obliteration. Biodiversity loss accelerates. Without substantial, grant-based financing now, we’re hurtling towards irreversible habitat destruction and an ecological collapse that imperils every living being. The world is watching and demands leaders do better – or bear the blame for a planet undone.”
‘Not the way forward’
Petra Kjell Wright, campaigns manager, Recourse, commented, “Developed countries need to step up and provide climate finance. But channelling it through multilateral development banks and the private sector is not the way forward. It will remove national ownership over climate actions, add debt, and take urgently needed resources far away from the most climate-vulnerable communities — basically handing them to big business.
“The development banks have a poor track record on delivering climate finance to people and communities that need it most, and as neither they nor the private sector are accountable to the UN climate convention, they should not be counted in the COP29 climate finance goal.”
‘Failing a moral test’
Teresa Anderson, Global Lead on Climate Justice and Head of Delegation for ActionAid International said, “Rich countries are failing this moral test. Developing countries have come to Baku with the hope that this COP would finally deliver the funding they need to cope with climate impacts and cut emissions.
“But the developed countries most responsible for causing climate destruction are turning a deaf ear to the reality faced by frontline nations. This draft doesn’t provide the trillions in grants that are needed to keep the planet safe.
Instead of actually increasing their climate finance contributions, rich countries just want to increase what counts as climate finance. With all the loans and corporate investment being pushed into this new goal, this text could end up being a pretext for corporate profit under a climate veneer. The whole world needs COP29 to deliver trillions in grants every year for urgent climate action.”
‘Essential we get an outcome’
Stephen Cornelius, WWF deputy global climate and energy lead, said: “The text is narrowing, but so is time to reach a final agreement. Negotiators and ministers need to pick up the pace, ramp up their diplomacy and drive consensus around an ambitious climate finance deal. The lack of a finance target in this draft is a worrying sign that the most challenging decisions are being left to the last minute.
“This agreement will decide the climate finance landscape for years to come. We simply can’t afford to get this wrong. Without adequate finance for climate solutions, we won’t be able to prevent catastrophic climate impacts. It is essential we get an outcome here capable of unleashing climate action at speed and scale around the world.”
‘Cowardice’
Andreas Sieber, associate director of global policy and campaigns, 350.org, added, “The new climate finance and mitigation draft texts presented at COP29 today fail to deliver what is needed to transform the lives of those most impacted by the climate crisis. Will governments recall this moment too, when the next climate disaster hits their country? A fast, fairly funded fossil fuel phase out is what we need reflected in these texts.
“Right now, we only see cowardice and a void in leadership, ignoring the undeniable science. By the end of the UN climate talks, we must see at least a trillion dollars in public finance on the table.”
‘Good, bad and ugly’
Laurie van der Burg, Oil Change International‘s gobal public finance manager, said, “The draft climate finance deal is a mixed bag with good, bad and ugly options. Rich countries now have a last chance to step up to pay the climate debt they owe to the Global South and unlock a fair and funded fossil fuel phaseout, while barring dangerous distractions.
“Wealthy nations must support delivering the trillions urgently needed in public finance with the majority provided debt-free, which is currently on the table.’
‘The world is watching’
Safa’ Al Jayoussi, climate justice lead, Oxfam International, commented, “COP29 must deliver more than threadbare promises. The most polluting countries need to provide trillions, not billions, each year in public, grant-based climate finance to address their climate debt. This is not charity; it’s the bare minimum needed to protect frontline communities from climate devastation, support recovery after disasters, and ensure a just transition to a sustainable future.
“The world is watching and it’s past time for rich countries to act decisively and pay up —or forever be remembered as those who prioritised profit over people and complacency before courage.”
‘Symptomatic of decades of denial’
Lien Vandamme, senior campaigner, Center for International Environmental Law, said, “Having a draft text on climate finance without a number is like a map with no destination. The lack of clarity and consensus that this goal will also address loss and damage is symptomatic of the decades of denial of States with a historic responsibility for the climate crisis of their obligations to remedy climate harm.
“Leaving a loss and damage-sized hole in the climate finance goal will further escalate the harm to those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. States have legal obligations to pay up for climate finance and this means trillions, not billions, of public, grants-based finance for mitigation, adaptation AND loss and damage.”
‘There are no winners’
Erin Ryan, senior international campaigner, Climate Action Network Australia, said, “This isn’t a game. The Global South are here in good faith, plainly telling us what’s needed to action the agreed transition away from fossil fuels, adapt to the climate crisis and recover from loss and damage in their communities.
“By failing to put a figure on the table and assuring us that the private sector will fill in the chasmic gaps, high income and high polluting countries like Australia are first and foremost failing the people. But they’re also failing the process by treating it like a win-lose game. There are no winners in a climate crisis, and the only way to end the stalemate is to pay up to action the urgent transition away from deadly coal, oil and gas.”
‘An insult to the millions of people on the frontlines’
And finally, Jasper Inventor, head of COP29 delegation for Greenpeace International, noted, “The draft text has one option that rightly recognises trillions are needed, but the fact there is no number specified for the climate finance goal is an insult to the millions of people on the frontlines bearing the brunt of climate change impacts. Developing countries have clear sums in mind and developed countries need to put forward a sufficiently high enough public finance offer to build trust and for these talks to progress.
“There’s two options: one that could unlock trillions in finance or one allowing developed countries to shirk their responsibilities onto the private sector and developing countries. Agreeing to put the bill to the fossil fuel polluting companies offers a real path forward to bridge the financing gap and it’s encouraging this is still included in the negotiating text.”
Read more here. [Photo: UN Climate Change]
