With COP26 underway, WaterAid is calling on world leaders to meet their $100 billion climate finance commitment by 2023, as estimates show that women in developing countries will miss out on 2.5 million working days globally due to a lack of basic water services.
Last week, rich nations published a Climate Finance Delivery Plan, confirming they won’t deliver on their long-promised target of $100 billion each year to support poorer countries battling the impacts of the climate crisis. The target is expected to be met by 2023, three years later than promised. “World leaders must recognise poorer nations hit hardest by climate change cannot wait two more years as they continue to carry the burden of richer nations’ inaction.
In 2009, richer nations, including the United Kingdom, committed to supporting poorer nations to protect themselves against the effects of climate change by providing $100bn by 2020. Only 80 per cent of this money has been delivered, according to the latest data. In addition, only a fraction – around 25 per cent – is going towards helping communities adapt, while that should be at least half, according to WaterAid.
While developing countries contribute very little to global carbon emissions, they are the least prepared to withstand the effects, with little money allocated towards helping them. The average person in Nigeria accounts annually for emissions of 0.546 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide – compared to the average per capita emission in the United States of 16.5 metric tonnes.