Steps forward in climate finance

Specifically, developed countries such as the European Union (EU) pledged to contribute 225 million EUR to the fund; the UK pledged 60 million GBP; the United States 17.5 million USD; Japan 10 million USD. The host country UAE pledged 100 million USD.

China and India, the world's second and third largest emitters, have not yet agreed on how to contribute to the Fund.

COP28 reached an agreement that the World Bank (WB) will temporarily manage the fund for the next four years, but donor and recipient countries will manage how the money is spent. However, similar to the $100 billion a year that rich countries have pledged to help developing countries fight climate change, this commitment is far below the real needs of poor countries and depends heavily on the level of implementation of the support commitments by developed countries. Some parties have called for high-level engagement in the form of “real dialogue” rather than speeches to get real resources rather than commitments.

The COP28 conference taking place in Dubai, UAE is expected to create significant financial leverage for efforts to implement the Paris Agreement.

At COP28, participants also discussed Article 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement on creating financial flows consistent with the path towards low emissions and climate adaptation; doubling financial resources for adaptation and increasing emergency support. Parties agreed on capacity building and focusing on improving domestic policies to support the development of green financial systems; developing carbon markets to create resources for emission reduction and climate change adaptation; and having mechanisms to attract stronger participation of the private sector in efforts to respond to climate change in developing countries.

Previously, COP 27 requested the Standing Committee on Finance to develop a report on doubling the financial resources for climate change adaptation. This originated from COP26, when developing countries requested developed countries to double the financial resources for climate change adaptation by 2025 compared to 2019, to ensure a balance of climate financial support for climate change adaptation and greenhouse gas emission reduction. However, at the negotiation sessions, countries have not agreed on the financial base for climate change adaptation in 2019, the base level is different in the reference documents.

By the end of December 6, COP28 had passed half of its term (November 30 - December 12, 2023). In addition to financial commitments for the Loss and Damage Fund, the Climate Change Investment Fund (co-founded by the UAE and India) has not made any new financial commitments for climate change. There are still many different opinions on whether or not the target of mobilizing 100 billion USD per year has been achieved. Technical meetings have discussed in detail the draft decisions of COP28. However, the content of the draft decisions on each issue often has many different options, many opposing options. These contents will be further discussed by the Conference in the second half of the Conference.

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