Success at this year’s U.N. climate summit hinges on whether countries can agree on a new annual finance target for richer countries, development lenders and the private sector.The U.N.’s climate chief called on leaders of the world’s biggest economies on Saturday to send a signal of support for global climate finance efforts when they meet in Rio de Janeiro next week, to help trigger a deal at COP29 talks.
He said they should support an increase in grants and loans, along with debt relief, so vulnerable countries “are not hamstrung by debt servicing costs that make bolder climate actions all but impossible”. The groups included the We Mean Business Coalition, United Nations Global Compact and the Brazilian Council for Sustainable Development.
But negotiators have made slow progress, midway through the two-week conference. A draft text of the deal, which earlier this week was 33-pages long and comprised of dozens of wide-ranging options, had been pared down to 25 pages as of Saturday.