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The world’s poorest countries renewed a call for the COP30 summit to set a new goal to triple finance for them to cope with the impacts of global warming, warning that an expected decision on how to measure climate adaptation progress in Belém would be fruitless without more money.
Since the mid-year climate talks in Bonn, the Least-Developed Countries (LDC) group has been asking for a new finance target to be set with a 2030 deadline to help them become more resilient to extreme weather and rising seas. They upped their ask in the run-up to COP30 to $120 billion a year, which is three times the current goal of at least $40 billion by 2025.
Speaking to journalists in Belem on Tuesday, Lina Yassin, a Sudanese adviser to the LDCs, said adaptation metrics alone – one of the key outcomes due at COP30 – are necessary but would not benefit vulnerable countries if they cannot fund adaptation projects.
“Indicators don’t rebuild our washed-away villages. They don’t fix our failed harvest. Indicators only show you what’s going on – so beyond indicators, we’re asking for adaptation finance,” she said. So far “we have not heard enough support for it” at COP30, she added.
On Tuesday evening, the COP30 president reiterated that adaptation is central to the success of COP30, adding that the push for an increase in resources for adaptation is “significant”.
Huge gap between funding and needs
The metrics being discussed at COP30 are seen as key to putting into practice the Global Goal on Adaptation, which was enshrined in the Paris Agreement a decade ago, but has yet to achieve much on the ground.
“We still don’t know how to achieve that goal,” Yassin said. “If you ask me about the [1.5C] temperature target, we know we’re not on track. If you ask me, how are we doing on adaptation, no one here can tell me the answer.”
A UN report issued in the run-up to COP30 said developing countries will need to spend between $310 billion and $365 billion per year on measures to adapt to climate change impacts by 2035, warning of a massive funding shortfall as wealthy governments pare back their support.
The latest estimate of developing countries’ annual climate adaptation needs outstrips current funding by at least 12 times, with rich nations providing just $26 billion in 2023, according to the annual Adaptation Gap Report.
If current trends continue, developed countries are set to miss the target to double adaptation finance by 2025 that they committed to at COP26 four years ago, UNEP’s report said.
Global South’s climate adaptation bill to top $300 billion a year by 2035: UN
On Monday, a fundraising session for the UN’s Adaptation Fund raised less than half of its minimum target of $300 million, while it has a pipeline of $700 million in unfunded projects. This marks the third year in a row the fund’s target will be missed, unless more pledges are made before the end of COP30.
Its head said the fund “faces unprecedented demand for its work, and can receive funds from a variety of sources, so we are also hopeful others will come forward in the coming days.”
Indicators seen as putting burden on vulnerable
Technical experts have been working for the past two years under the climate talks to produce a list of around 100 metrics to track efforts towards broad targets to boost climate resilience in seven areas: farming and food, water and sanitation, health, ecosystems, infrastructure, livelihoods and cultural heritage.
Those were decided at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 in a text that also included what is called the “means of implementation”, which covers finance, technical support and building countries’ ability to adapt. Rich countries have pushed back against including specific targets on funding under the Global Goal on Adaptation.
As a result, some country groups – mainly African and Arab nations – have proposed at COP30 to postpone the adoption of the proposed indicators for two years, arguing they cannot sign up to measure progress they cannot afford to make with their own resources. In addition, they say the indicators risk imposing approaches that should be decided by the countries themselves.
Comment: Global Goal on Adaptation – Weighing the cow won’t make it fatter
Harjeet Singh, a climate activist and founding director of India’s Satat Sampada Climate Foundation, said the Africa Group and other developing nations were right to draw a red line on the current draft text in Belem, which he called “a trap”.
“It shifts the burden onto developing nations to fund their own adaptation while letting historical polluters like the US, EU, Australia, Canada, and others off the hook,” he told Climate Home News.
Aichetou Seck of Senegal, a technical lead for adaptation with the LDCs, said African countries do not want to block the process, as adaptation is a key priority for them. Rather, she said, they are seeking to ensure first that they have concrete ways to make progress, including adequate finance.
How could a new target land in Belém?
One observer of the adaptation talks told Climate Home News the call for a tripling of adaptation finance could be positioned instead in the main Mutirão decision, which is likely to form the backbone of the political package due to be agreed in Belem.
Currently, a draft version includes that as an option, together with a process to track progress towards it. But another – favoured by rich nations – only acknowledges the need to “dramatically scale up adaptation finance” without mentioning a number.
COP30 Bulletin Day 8: Draft decision draws battle lines on fossil fuel transition, finance and trade
Some observers and negotiators say a possible compromise could involve specifying a dedicated adaptation funding target within the $300-billion-a-year UN climate finance goal agreed at COP29 last year, rather than creating a separate pledge.
“We want support from the world, because without an adaptation package, without an outcome that doesn’t just give us indicators, it also gives us money, everything we’re discussing here is symbolic,” said Yassin of Sudan. “We will go back home and nothing tomorrow will change.”
The post Poorest countries appeal for more adaptation finance at COP30 appeared first on Climate Home News.
Poorest countries appeal for more adaptation finance at COP30
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Prepared by a coalition of nine Western Australian union, industry, conservation, and community organisations—including UnionsWA, the Conservation Council WA, and the Smart Energy Council—the WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan provides a practical roadmap to transform Western Australia into a clean energy powerhouse while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
Western Australia stands at a pivotal crossroads: lead the global clean energy economy or watch investment, future industries, and secure jobs go elsewhere. The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan outlines a transformative blueprint to harness the state’s world-class solar and wind resources. Discover how legislated renewable targets, green iron manufacturing, and a dedicated regional training strategy can generate tens of thousands of local jobs, lower household bills, and build a resilient, net-zero future for all Western Australians.
WA needs a clear and forward-thinking plan if it is going to become a competitive renewable energy powerhouse and maintain its economic strength through the energy transition.
“Western Australians know a faster renewable energy transition will lower their household expenses and prevent harmful climate pollution. But the community also needs clear direction to ensure this transition will create jobs, lower costs and not cause undue environmental harm.
“Here, sectors representing a broad range of interests have laid the groundwork for those outcomes, clearly outlining what is needed to create a future for WA that is good for the environment, for the climate, for workers and for the economy.
Summary
The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan sets out a strategic roadmap to position Western Australia as a global clean energy superpower while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
The report establishes three overarching goals:
- Creating local employment.
- Maintaining industrial competitiveness.
- Lowering household energy costs
To realize this vision, the framework details actionable measures to follow on from the recent WA Government announcement of a 75% Renewable Energy Target by 2031 for the South West Interconnected System. This includes developing a statewide Renewable Energy Target, coordinating statewide workforce and training pipelines, strategically planning regional infrastructure to safeguard high-value biodiversity and cultural heritage, and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing through household electrification incentives and First Nations equity partnerships. Ultimately, the plan highlights that establishing clear policy and regulatory certainty will unlock lower energy bills, boost power reliability, and secure the state’s global competitiveness in emerging green commodity export markets.
Key Findings
- Statewide Renewable Energy Target and Emissions Reduction Targets: The report calls for a statewide RET and 1.5°C aligned emission reduction targets to remove policy risk, lower capital costs, and attract clean energy investment.
- Transformative Job Creation: Accelerating the transition offers massive employment prospects, including up to 8,800 solar and battery jobs by 2050, as well as 24,000 ongoing and 11,000 construction jobs in a commercial green iron industry.
- Industrial Electrification & Competitiveness: Requiring large gas users to adopt binding electrification timetables and providing concessional financing will protect existing energy-intensive manufacturers from rising energy costs and impending domestic gas shortfalls.
- Green Commodity Export Leadership: Western Australia can build new export markets in green iron, green ammonia, and offshore oil/gas decommissioning by constructing shared common-user infrastructure and setting dedicated Green Commodity Export Targets.
- Coordinated Workforce & Training Pipeline: To address critical skill shortages the plan recommends establishing a WA Clean Energy Jobs Plan 2050, three regional training hubs, and dedicated pathways for female and under-represented apprentices.
- Environmental Safeguards & Community Benefits: Fast-tracked development must be paired with State Planning Policies that avoid high-biodiversity and cultural heritage lands, mandate new data centres to run on additional renewable power, and deliver household electrification rebates and First Nations equity partnerships.
What you can do
WA has an opportunity to lead on sustainable, clean energy and associated industries. You can help by:
- Sending an email to Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on them to reject Browse.
- Sharing this story to help more Australians understand what’s at stake.
- Encouraging your friends and family to take action.
Countries have completed the first “global review” of their progress towards reversing nature loss by 2030 at the COP17 biodiversity talks in Yerevan, Armenia.
The review “notes with deep concern” that, unless action is “rapidly accelerated”, the goal to reverse nature loss and meet a set of 23 targets by 2030 “will not be achieved”.
It “urges” countries to accelerate action, including by “increased ambition in addressing the gaps”.
Much of the discussions in Yerevan focused on how to raise the necessary funds to help developing countries protect nature.
Some major economies pushed to expand the range of nations that are expected to provide finance, with countries agreeing at the end of the two weeks of talks that non-donors that want to contribute can “signal interest” before COP18.
This came after developed countries failed to meet a target to significantly ramp up nature finance over the last few years.
It also came as a landmark fund agreed at COP16 in Colombia to pay communities for the genetic resources derived from nature stands nearly empty two years on.
The Yerevan talks marked the halfway point of the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), the “Paris Agreement for nature” first made in 2022 and due to be achieved by 2030.
During the nearly 12-hour-long final plenary, countries voted for Quito, Ecuador, to host the COP18 nature talks, which will be held in 2028.
Countries managed to sign off on all the major negotiation texts, marking a stark contrast to COP16, which ran so far over time that the Colombian presidency lost “quorum”, forcing talks to resume in Rome months later.
Below, Carbon Brief has detailed analysis of all of the key outcomes from COP17.
Formal negotiations
Finance
Finance, predictably, was at the heart of the discord and deadlock at the Yerevan talks.
At COP17, discussions on finance had to achieve several outcomes.
The first part – to take stock of biodiversity finance mobilised so far to meet the nature deal’s goals – fell under the global review.
As the global report noted, developed countries failed to meet their commitments to raise “at least $20bn a year by 2025” for nature. Delegates pointed to falling aid levels and a sharp 27% decline in environmental funding for the 2026-30 period.
The second part was to agree on how to mobilise resources for the next four years, to meet the GBF’s goals and targets.
Calls to “broaden the contributor base” of who pays to protect nature – and whether that should include emerging economies – became the most fraught element of the talks.
Eventually, countries agreed on what Switzerland described as a “super, mega-delicate” text. It hinged on major “political compromises”, with “no major winner or loser”, according to Kenya.
Per the decision, countries that want to be included on a list of developed country donors can “signal interest” through bilateral, confidential consultations before COP18 and every alternate COP after.
Finally, countries also agreed on criteria to shape and resource a new, permanent financial mechanism to protect nature after 2030.
However, this did not immediately take the form of a new fund under the COP that biodiverse countries have demanded since 2022, deferring the mechanism’s institutional structure to COP18.
Resource mobilisation discussions at the GBF’s halfway mark were supposed to agree on how to close the “biodiversity finance gap” and to “increase resources from all sources” to “at least” $200bn per year by 2030, as set out in target 19 of the GBF.
The talks were largely dominated by a push, led by the JUSCANZ bloc of developed countries, to “broaden the contributor base”. This could see emerging economies, such as Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia and India, being added to the list of countries that pay to protect nature.