Global South's Collective Call for Ambitious Climate Finance at COP29 in Baku

India urges the Global South to unite for an ambitious climate finance goal at the UN climate change conference in Baku. Emphasizing the need for concrete commitments, environmental secretary Leela Nandan calls for transparent, grant-based support to meet the needs of developing nations. Achieving consensus remains challenging due to previous unmet commitments.

India has called for the Global South to unite in demanding a new, ambitious climate finance goal at the approaching UN climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

During the third Voice of Global South Summit, Union environment ministry secretary Leela Nandan stressed that COP29 must yield concrete commitments to address global warming and ensure climate justice.

She emphasized the importance of raising a collective voice in Baku for a transparent, grant-based, and concessional climate finance goal that aligns with the needs of developing nations.

Financing support for poorer and middle-income nations will be a central theme at COP29, where world leaders must finalize the New Collective Quantified Goal, the annual funding target from 2025 for climate action in developing countries.

Nandan highlighted the disappointing progress made at the mid-year UN climate talks in Germany and the failure of developed countries to meet the $100 billion annual pledge for climate finance.

She noted that the new finance goal should correspond with estimates by the Standing Committee on Finance, which suggests a need ranging from $5.8 trillion to $11.5 trillion by 2030.

According to these estimates, such funding is critical to fulfill the targets set by developing nations in their Nationally Determined Contributions.

India also pointed out that developed countries must remember their obligations under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to support the Global South in conservation and restoration.

(With inputs from agencies.)