Least Developed Countries and the Alliance Of Small Island States suspend COP29 negotiations on the New Quantitative Collective Goal ( International Climate Action Network ) The 2024 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties, known as COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, eventually came to an agreement on the quantum of climate finance for developing countries under the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). It adopted a two-tier goal. Developing countries had called for amounts ranging from US$1 trillion to US$1.3 trillion but eventually settled for US$300 billion annually by 2035 for an “inner” goal. Although the decision is worded in terms of funding from “a wide variety of sources”, the wording is similar to Article 9 of the Paris Agreement, indicating the goal should be met through public funds or financing directly mobilised by public funds. Developed countries claimed to have met the original goal to provide US$100 billion annually by 2022. Many independent commentators, including the Center for Global Development (CGD) and the World Resources Institute , argue strongly that the quantity does not come close to meeting developing countries’ needs. CGD believes that if the original US$100 billion goal had been adjusted for inflation, it would equal US$220 billion in 2035, reducing the increase in the new goal to a far less impressive US$80 billion. The outer goal is for developed countries to provide US$1.3 trillion annually by 2035 to developing countries. This differs from the US$300 billion inner goal in that the funds are to come from “all sources”. Contributor countries advocated the idea of a multilayered goal to allow a greater focus on private sources, which they claimed could provide much greater volumes of finance. Currently, no monitoring or reporting system exists to report progress in achieving the outer goal. The means […]