Cartoon By: Aaron Paul C. Caril
EDITORIAL
We are not begging
The COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, has produced a new draft proposal calling for developed countries to provide $250 billion annually to help developing countries combat climate change. While this figure is a substantial increase from the previous $100 billion commitment, it falls short of the $1 trillion many economists and climate activists argue is necessary to address the global climate crisis effectively.
The proposal does not sit well with civil society members advocating the primary tenet of the climate movement that rich countries — the historic emitters that polluted the world — must pay for the damage they’ve caused. Countries identified as major emitters due to their large populations and industrial activitiesare China, the United States, the European Union, India, and Russia, among others, contributingover two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions.
It is a disgrace, a slap, and an insult.The $250 billion a year is a cruel condemnation to death for the world’s vulnerable peoples. These fiery words from climate change advocates echoed their frustrations as poor and developing countries continue to be at the receiving end of the calamities that result from rising global temperatures.
Proponents of the proposal argue that it represents a significant step forward in acknowledging the financial responsibilities of developed nations. The funds support green energy projects, climate adaptation efforts, and resilience-building in vulnerable countries. This move is seen as a recognition of the disproportionate impact of climate change on poorer nations and an attempt to level the playing field.
However, critics argue that the $250 billion figure is insufficient and lacks ambition. They say the funds should be provided as grants rather than loans to avoid increasing the debt burden on struggling economies.
“We are not begging,” Filipino climate activist Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development, said in a briefing.
Under the Paris Agreement, the goal is to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres disclosed in his Special Address on climate change in June 2024 the inconvenient truth that almost ten years after the Paris Agreement was adopted, the target of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is hanging by a thread. The world is spewing emissions so fast that by 2030, a far higher temperature rise would be all but guaranteed.
Guterres emphatically stressed that in the case of climate, we are not only in danger—we are the danger—but we are also the solution.