Today's Edition
Ayesha Khalfan Alremeithi
The author is a researcher at TRENDS Research & Advisory
Climate change has become one of the most serious economic and environmental challenges of our time, and no country can fully survive its effects.
In such a situation, all countries must cooperate to reduce emissions, even though responsibilities vary between developed and developing nations.
Low-income countries have not contributed much to the historic emissions of greenhouse gases and often lack the resources needed to combat climate change.
A major problem here is that while developed countries have the finance to reduce emissions if they want, developing countries, which have not contributed much to emissions production, are likely to suffer the most from the impact of climate change.
Every year, global temperatures continue to rise, and there are huge challenges facing the global economy and access to climate finance.
Low- and middle-income countries need to spend trillions of dollars annually to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects.
The current climate summit "COP 29," held in Baku, Azerbaijan, aims to reach an agreement on financing for poorer countries, building on efforts that have begun since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
These efforts focus on aligning financial flows with carbon emissions and identifying the critical role of the financial sector in both climate mitigation and adaptation.
At "COP 27" in Sharm El-Sheikh, global leaders agreed to establish a "Loss and Damage" fund to help developing countries counter the impacts of climate change.
At "COP 28" in Dubai, the UAE launched a $30 billion fund to finance climate projects, along with the activation of the "Loss and Damage" fund to assist the most affected countries - a historic step toward bringing together the Global North and South.
In Baku, discussions are underway on the collective goal of financing climate action for the post-2025 period, replacing the 2009 goal of providing $100 billion annually to developing countries by 2020; a target that was contentious and did not materialise.
If the summit reaches an agreement on specifying a substantial sum that the most climate-affected countries expect, the challenge lies in whether the cost of this financing will keep pace with the rapidly increasing emissions on the planet.
Also, the pressing question is: Can major countries commit themselves to climate funding target, especially as they have often failed to fulfil their climate responsibilities to the Global South?
A major concern in this context is the intention of the American president-elect, Donald Trump, to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and revoke environmental governance measures.
This means a significant decline in American climate action and funding, although the United States is one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters.
The effect of this shift would extend far beyond the United States to affect climate action across the world. Public-private sector partnerships and development banks could contribute to climate action in developing countries.
However, financing costs are high due to credit risks, and many climate projects do not promise guaranteed returns without some degree of risk.
Here, a cooperative approach is needed to build more partnerships between public and private sectors, especially as many governments are under economic pressure.
Development banks could also explore new financing mechanisms to ease access to funding that enable developing countries to both fight climate change and achieve development.
New mechanisms like climate bonds could be helpful, especially as emerging markets and developing economies, other than China, need to spend $2.4 trillion annually by 2030.
Developed countries must bear the responsibility for financial assistance to help developing countries in addressing the impacts of climate change.
However, while developing countries push for more climate funding grants, they also need to expand local and international partnerships.
Developing countries should remember that climate changes will affect economies and livelihoods every day, and delaying mitigation and adaptation measures will only worsen the situation.
Therefore, it is highly important to invest as much as possible in renewable energy, improve energy efficiency, protect coastal areas from rising sea levels, and develop the research on clean climate-related technologies.
