It should finally arrive this year: $100 billion in climate aid for poor countries. Although the second week of the Egypt climate summit has yet to begin, things are not looking good. The amount has been at the same level for years and the countries that need to fill that gap are silent.
The real decisions are usually made in the second week of a climate summit. But if you listen carefully to the signals so far, it seems that not even on those 100 billion in Sharm el-Sheikh will an agreement be reached.
“I don’t think the 100 billion mark is likely to be reached at this climate summit,” said Richard Klein, IPCC author and climate adaptation researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute. “In fact, I also fear a decline next year.”
This amount, which is roughly the same in euros at the current exchange rate, should be available every year between 2020 and 2025 to help poor countries become more sustainable and adapt to the consequences of climate change. It was already promised at the 2009 climate summit in Copenhagen.
“If it is not achieved, the climate summit has failed”
Contrary to expectations, it doesn’t seem to work. A report from Canada and Germany was released last year at the request of the UK. This calculated that another year would be needed. “We express confidence that it will be achieved by 2023,” the environment ministers of both countries wrote in the statement. preface.
The annual United Nations climate summit is also held in Egypt. That country wants to act as a bridge between Africa and rich Western countries. So it had to happen this year.
“If he fails once again to get this amount in full, the climate summit has failed badly,” said Mohammed Chahim, a member of the European Parliament delegation in Sharm-el-Sheikh on behalf of the PvdA. Chahim is still cautious: the climax of the negotiations is at the end of the second week, when the ministers arrive.
But if there is indeed good news to be reported, one would expect countries to use the speech of heads of government for that purpose as well.
Biden is fighting for an extra billion dollars
It happened last year at the climate summit in Glasgow, but not in Egypt. This was declared by the European Union, which provides the largest contribution with 23 billion euros enough to do. Defaulting payers include the US, Canada and Australia. But at the climate summit, those countries are silent for the time being. “Unlike Glasgow, few concrete numbers are mentioned here in Sharm-el-Sheikh,” says Klein.
Biden previously indicated he would make $11 billion available by 2024. But the US Congress only agreed earlier this year 1 billion. “They still say we will reach 100 billion a year before 2025,” says University of Twente and Red Cross adaptation expert Professor Maarten van Aalst. “But so far only a few countries are doing it.”
There are differences even within EU countries. According to a report of the international think tank ODI, the Netherlands, like Germany and the Scandinavian countries give more than their “fair share” – while Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy, for example, give much less.
We need more money from 2025 and more donors
In Sharm-el-Sheikh it also seems that rich countries prefer to talk about the period starting from 2025. But then the puzzle actually becomes even more difficult: then there is an annual more money necessary and which should also come from a wider group of countries.
Who has to pay from 2025 is a hot topic, says Van Aalst. “I think it would be right if, in addition to historical emissions, current emissions per person were also taken into account.” This would mean that countries like China and Saudi Arabia would also have to pay.
But for the moment such a solution is not yet in sight, says Van Aalst. “Those countries are formally in the developing-country bloc and are demanding that rich countries deliver on their previous promises first.”
