COP30 in Brazil Focuses on Developing Countries’ Needs for Climate Change Finance Reuters

Author: Lisandra Paraguassu

As world leaders grapple with the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, Brazil, host of this year’s COP30 global climate summit, sees an opportunity to amplify the voices of developing countries in the bitter dispute over who will pay for the global transition to cleaner energy sources.

During last year’s summit in Azerbaijan, a bitter fight between rich nations and lower-income countries ended with rich countries pledging to provide $300 billion a year to support developing countries by 2035. Although the goal is triple the current goal of $100 billion dollars, it is only a fraction of the 1.3 trillion dollars a year that is needed for developing countries. The fight is likely to continue this year.

“It was already difficult to reach $300 billion with the United States in the negotiations,” Andre Correa do Lago, the newly appointed COP30 president, said in an interview with international media on Wednesday.

He noted that under President Joe Biden, the US implemented new policies to combat climate change and worked to strengthen the role of multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank, to increase funding for projects to combat global warming. Without all these actions, Correa do Lago added, increasing climate finance “will certainly be more difficult now.”

Despite these challenges, Correa do Lago added, developing countries are “very united” in blocking calls from rich nations to expand the base of countries that financially support efforts to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts around the world.

In recent years, European leaders have called on emerging economies that are big polluters and getting richer, such as China and the Gulf states, to make mandatory contributions to help poorer countries deal with climate change. China, the second most populous nation on Earth, is by far the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

“What the developed countries want is not an increase in financial resources, they want to reduce their contribution in donating financial resources, which is natural and deeply wrong,” said Correa do Lago.

The US withdrawal also raised questions about which countries will help steer the outcome of this year’s global climate summit. As one of the world’s largest economies and broadcasters, the US played a central role in negotiating the outcome of the COP meetings, along with the European Union and China.

Commenting on the expected US exit from the Paris Agreement at last year’s COP29 climate summit, China’s climate envoy Liu Zhenmin said “everyone expects China and the EU to work together to fill this gap,” according to state-run newspaper The Beijing News. “Which is a nice wish, but actually difficult to achieve.”

Correa do Lago pointed to the BRICS group – which brings together Brazil, China and other emerging economies – as a forum that could help Brazil build consensus among developing countries not to back down from their calls for greater contributions from rich nations, which are historically the largest the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. Brazil is also chairing the BRICS this year.

“We will seek to reach a certain consensus and provoke certain discussions in the BRICS,” said Correa do Lago.

During the G20 summit in Brazil last year, Brazil and other developing countries managed to block an attempt by rich nations to include a call for developing economies to help finance climate change. Correa do Lago was then one of the leading negotiators.

Correa do Lago strongly defended what developing economies are already doing to combat climate change with their own budgets, highlighting Brazil’s efforts to curb deforestation, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and China’s trillions in clean energy technology investments.

“China is providing infinitely more resources to developing countries by massively reducing the prices of solar panels and the cost of electric vehicles,” he said, adding that those investments are much more meaningful to poorer countries than China “contributing only token amounts.”