Tag: climate finance

Counting on day 214

14th November 2024

“Let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity;” runaway climate change is impacting “every single individual in the world one way or another,” Mr. Stiell, the UN climate chief,  said on Monday.

Why do poorer nations (in particular) need climate finance? Because it can enable them to: 

  • take action to mitigate against the causes of climate change  – eg switching to renewable energy, replacing wood/coal fired cooking stoves with electric ones, greening heavy industry; 
  • take action to adapt to the ongoing effects of climate change – eg insulating buildings against extremes of heat, upgrading flood defences, improving early weather warning systems;
  • cover the costs of damage caused by extreme weather and other destructive effects caused by climate change.

Counting on day 213

13th November 2024

Adapting lifestyles and infrastructure to cope with the already present aspects of the climate crisis do not come cheaply – although it is definitely (infinitely) cheaper than the cost of making good the damage that would otherwise occur. 

Not all countries can afford these essential costs. As a matter of justice and of common human decency we need to count on the world leaders to both agree and – most importantly – to pay their fair contribution to enable all global citizens to be protected.

“Poorer developing nations are struggling to find the money to meet those increasingly urgent challenges, with this week’s Adaptation Gap report putting their annual adaptation needs at $215 billion-$387 billion, against international public funding of about $28 billion in 2022.  

Wealthy governments say they’re on track to deliver a goal to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025, to around $40 billion a year – but that would only reduce the adaptation finance gap by about 5%, the report warned. (1)

  1. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/11/08/rich-nations-on-track-to-double-adaptation-finance-but-huge-gap-persists/?utm_source=Climate+Weekly&utm_campaign=92eb3c50b7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_10_25_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33c1cd21bb-408145328