New Delhi:UN climate chief Simon Stiell said on Friday that finance is the make-or-break factor in the world's fight against climate change, and COP28 wins will fizzle away into empty promises without more of it.
"We need torrents - not trickles - of climate finance," said Stiell, who is currently in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, where the next UN climate conference (COP29) will be held in November. He mentioned that while the agreement on the Global Stocktake at COP28 was far from perfect, it would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
"But now is no time for victory laps. It's time to get on with the job," the UN climate boss said, urging countries not to hide behind loopholes in decision texts or dodge the hard work ahead through selective interpretation. "It would be entirely self-defeating for any government, as climate impacts hammer every country's economy and population," he added.
Stiell reminded that the world is coming out of the hottest year on record by a huge margin, emphasising that it will take an Olympian effort over the next two years to "put us on track to where we need to be in 2030 and 2050". He stressed that the action countries take in the next two years will shape how much climate-driven destruction they can avoid over the next two decades and beyond.
As he outlined what the world needs to do in 2024, the UN climate boss suggested that the Olympic motto "faster, higher, stronger" should be the shared climate mantra of all countries. He said countries must spend the year working collectively to evolve the global financial system so it's fit-for-purpose. Stiell said that at least USD 2.4 trillion is needed to execute the "climate transition", as estimated by the High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance. "Whether slashing emissions or building climate resilience, it's already blazingly obvious that finance is the make-or-break factor in the world's climate fight - in quantity, quality, and innovation.
"In fact, without far more finance, 2023's climate wins will quickly fizzle away into more empty promises. We need torrents - not trickles - of climate finance," he emphasised. The UNFCCC Executive Secretary added that 2024 is the year multilateral development banks must demonstrate - with concrete actions - their centrality in the world's climate fight and their determination to deliver impact at scale.
They should take bold steps towards financial innovation that will double, if not triple, their collective financial capacity by 2030 - particularly with respect to grants and concessional finance. At COP28 in Dubai, countries for the first time agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in a "just, orderly, and equitable manner".
