COP29: Shifting from compensation to investments

This COP29, like the others, is decried even before it begins. It is being described as a transitional conference of little importance, compared to the one next year in Brazil.  But in fact, it is addressing the burning issue of climate finance, a big factor which needs to be redefined and mobilised. To start, we need to exceed the annual threshold of 100 billion dollars promised for years by the countries of the North to those of the South, a form of compensation to help fund the fight against a phenomenon to which Global South countries have contributed very little.

As the delegations arrived in Baku, the adoption of the agenda was already stumbling over this issue. Notably, ‘donor’ countries want to include China and the United Arab Emirates among the nations that must contribute to this fund rather than benefit from it.

Realistically, this debate should no longer be considered relevant. A few years ago, climate finance might have been seen as a form of charity, but not anymore. That's the message we need to hammer home. Climate action is no longer a low or high cost: with solutions that are both clean and profitable, it has become the investment opportunity of the century. 

In most countries, renewable energy has become cheaper than fossil fuels and energy inefficiency costs a fortune every year. Not to mention the potential of the circular economy.