COP29: Nigeria, others criticise $300 billion climate finance deal

Nigeria on Sunday criticised the new $300 billion climate deal agreed upon at COP29.

The 29th edition of the UN global climate summit finally ended in the early hours of Sunday in Baku, Azerbaijan, after all parties agreed to a deal.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the final deal includes a fresh pledge by wealthy nations to provide $300 billion annually to poorer countries to help them address climate change challenges.

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said the “Baku Finance Goal represents the best possible deal we could reach.” However, many developing countries, including Nigeria, were not impressed.

Nigeria, a member of the least developing countries (LDCs) group, said the deal fell short of meeting the ambitious and much-needed annual climate finance commitment expected from richer nations responsible for the most damage to the climate.

Nkiruka Maduekwe, Nigeria’s focal person and director-general of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), described the deal as “unrealistic” and an insult to the spirit and letters of the UN framework convention on climate change.

“We do not accept this. You expect us to have ambitious NDCs. The NCQG was supposed to enable us to have realistic finance goals. $300 billion is unrealistic. Let us tell ourselves the truth,” Ms Maduekwe said at the closing session.

“It is going to be a disservice to me, my country and women, the rural women, the women who are in the developing countries; not just the women [but] everybody, if we walk back home with $300 [billion USD] and we say that the developed countries are taking the lead. This is an insult to what the convention says.”

Sierra Leone’s Environment Minister, Jiwoh Abdulai, said the deal indicates a “lack of goodwill” by developed countries to support climate action in the poorest countries.

The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) said the situation followed an imperialist pattern by developed countries to undermine Africa and other poor regions.

“Baku seems to repeat the same pattern from previous COPs where negotiations are deliberately dragged through at snail pace for two weeks, only for the final card to be released by invisible powers at the last minute, with a take-or-leave offer that is shoved down the throats of helpless poor countries,” Mithika Mwenda, PACJA’s executive director, said.

LDCs had proposed an annual payout of $1.3 trillion – mostly in grants and not loans — to help them cope with the impact of climate change in their communities, but their expectations were dashed as developed countries showed no interest in committing that much to their cause.

LDCs also rejected initial proposals of $200 billion and later $250 billion because they failed to meet the ambitious and much-needed climate finance commitment expected from richer nations.

The agreed funding will be provided via public and private financing, as well as bilateral and multilateral deals. The agreement also urged all parties to work towards achieving a commitment of $1.3 trillion annually by 2035.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had hoped for a more ambitious outcome but called on parties to unite and honour the commitment.

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“It must be honoured in full and on time. Commitments must quickly become cash. All countries must come together to ensure the top-end of this new goal is met,” he said.

COP29 ended after two weeks and an extra day – of hostile negotiations characterised by political power plays, rejections, and boycotts.