COP29: Experts call for $1 trn annual investment to fight climate change

Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor on Climate Change to the President, Inter-American Development Bank from Inter-American Development Bank, highlighted enormous financial need for climate adaptation

At the COP29 climate summit, prominent voices in the climate action arena voiced a call for greater accountability, real climate finance, and transparent data from developed countries and called for USD 1 trillion per year in cross-border finance to developing countries.

Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor on Climate Change to the President, Inter-American Development Bank from the Inter-American Development Bank, highlighted the enormous financial need for climate adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage.

We need an NCQG (New Collective Quantified Goal) that is relevant to actual climate finance needs, he stated, calling for USD 1 trillion per year in cross-border finance to developing countries.

Persaud also noted that transparency is critical to finance accountability, arguing that clear data on financial flows and impact is essential.

He cautioned, however, that loss and damage finance should be grant-based and separate from adaptation and mitigation to ensure funds reach the most vulnerable without excessive debt burdens.

Dr. Aarti Gupta from Wageningen University emphasised that transparency was a recurring theme, and stressed the accountability deficit in climate pledges.

Accountability mechanisms are limited in the UNFCCC framework, she pointed out.

Gupta expressed concern over the reliance on self-reported climate finance data, which often lacks verification and a clear picture of actual flows.

Without a standardised, multilateral definition of climate finance, self-reporting by developed countries has often been inadequate in capturing the true extent of contributions, she said.

Dr. Gupta also raised a red flag on the potential risks of speculative geoengineering solutions, such as solar radiation modification, being discussed as a last-resort climate strategy.

These risky, untested methods could detract from meaningful action, she argued.

There is serious pushback from the Global South against these options, Gupta stated, underscoring the urgency for strengthened accountability to avoid resorting to these high-stakes technologies.

Dr. Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), underscored the importance of moving beyond promises.

We are not here for more promises, he asserted.

COP29 must close the door this time. We need to push for three things: accountability, real climate finance, and meaningful climate action.

Both Ghosh and Persaud called for developed nations to accelerate their net-zero targets.

This is not a race that major emitters can afford to pace at their own speed, said Dr Ghosh, insisting that wealthier nations make immediate and deep cuts in emissions.

Persaud also stressed that Loss and Damage needs to be grant-based and recommended that COP29 avoid grouping adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage funding into a single target, which could dilute focus and effectiveness.