Government representatives gather in Bonn, Germany, for the next two weeks for technical negotiations in the lead up to COP29 in Azerbaijan later this year.
Billed as a climate finance COP, the negotiations this year are expected to deliver a new climate finance goal, and many countries could use the opportunity to announce new climate targets through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are due in early 2025.
The Chair of the Least Developed Countries, Evans Njewa, from Malawi, commented: “With the impacts of climate change intensifying yearly, we, the Least Developed Countries Group, cannot stress enough the need for scaled-up, predictable, adequate, and accessible finance for us to pursue emissions reductions, adapt to climate change and deal with loss and damage associated with the impacts.
“This year, we are being tasked with negotiating a new goal for climate finance, recognising that the last $100 billion commitment was far from enough to meet our needs. The group expects the new climate finance goal to match the needs of our countries, be based on science, with public grant-based money as the primary source, particularly for the least developed countries.
“This year we will also see countries begin to come forward with new national commitments for addressing climate change. This next round of NDCs is a critical moment to not only set the course to 2035, but increase collective action before 2030. With the hottest year ever recorded just in the past year, and signs that 2024 may be warmer still, the urgency is clear. The moment must be met with commitments of deep emissions cuts aligned with countries’ fair share of the global effort needed to limit warming to 1.5°C. This is a survival limit for us in the least developed countries. And while countries submit new targets, we of course also need to see full implementation of existing commitments.
“We desire to adopt outcomes that would create jobs, enhance food security, eradicate poverty, and contribute to economic development and the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adequate and accessible climate finance is not just a matter of responsibility; it is a matter of survival for the people in our countries.”
