The Australian government has been urged to “step up” and do more to address the climate crisis after it played a role in a contentious deal on global finance to help poor countries deal with the problem.that developing countries would be paid at least US$300bn a year in global climate finance by 2035 to help them shift to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather.Wealthy nations, including Australia, agreed to “take the lead” in getting there.
The $1.3tn was based on a calculation by leading economists but many activists demanded more – as much as US$7tn a year – based on wealthy nations’ historic responsibility for rising damage caused by global heating. It may not have been accepted had the Azeri Cop29 president, Mukhtar Babayev, not gavelled it through before India could express its objection. India’s delegate, Chandni Raina,, was a co-facilitator leading negotiations with nearly 200 countries on the design before making recommendations to the Azeri hosts. Bowen left before the final plenary on a pre-booked flight to return to Australia for parliament on Monday. Australia was represented by diplomats in the final stages.
The deal does not commit the Australia government to paying a particular amount. It has been sharply criticised for what Climate Action Tracker called “insufficient” climate finance commitments to date – A$3bn between 2020 and 2025. It was praised for committing A$50m toGreenpeace Australia Pacific’s head of advocacy, Susie Byers, said given that Australia was bidding to host a UN climate summit in 2026 with Pacific countries it had both “a responsibility and a strong interest in stepping up”.