Nations at UN climate talks agree to $300 billion a year for poor countries in compromise deal – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — At tense U.N. climate talks in a city where industry led the way, countries agreed on a deal to invest at least $300 billion annually in humanity’s fight against climate change, aimed at helping poor countries cope the devastating consequences of global warming. drained the oil.

$300 billion will go to developing countries that need money to move away from the coal, oil and gas that is causing the globe to overheat, adapt to future warming and offset the damage caused by extreme weather-related climate change. That’s nowhere near the full $1.3 trillion that developing countries have asked for, but it is three times the $100 billion a year that was set to expire in 2009. Delegations said the deal was moving in the right direction and hoped more money would flow in the future.

“Everyone is committed to reaching an agreement,” Fiji delegation chief Biman Prasad said as the deal was being finalized. “They’re not necessarily happy with everything, but the bottom line is that everyone wants a good deal.”

It is also an important step toward helping recipient countries set more ambitious targets to limit or reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases, due early next year. It is part of a plan to further reduce pollution, with new targets every five years, that the world agreed to at UN talks in Paris in 2015.

The Paris agreement established a system for regularly increasing climate change ambitions to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. Global temperatures are already 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise.

Countries also expect the deal to be a signal that will help attract financing from other sources such as multilateral development banks and private sources. This was always part of the discussion in these negotiations – rich countries did not think it was realistic to rely solely on government funding sources – but poor countries were worried that if the money came in the form of loans rather than grants, it would set them back further. into debt they are already struggling with.

“The $300 billion goal is not enough, but it is an important down payment toward a more secure and equitable future,” said World Resources Institute President Ani Dasgupta. “This deal will get us off the ground. The race is now on to attract much more climate finance from a range of public and private sources, putting the entire financial system to work to support the transition process in developing countries.”

That’s more than the $250 billion that was on the table in the first draft of the text, which angered many countries and led to a period of frustration and stalemate in the final hours of the summit. After an initial proposal of $250 billion a year was soundly rejected, the Azerbaijani presidency prepared a new $300 billion draft that was never formally presented but was also roundly rejected by African countries and small island states, according to reports transmitted from within. .

Several different texts adopted early Sunday morning included a vague but not specific reference to last year’s Global Inventory approved in Dubai. Last year, a battle raged over a first-of-its-kind text to phase out oil, coal and natural gas, but instead it called for a transition away from fossil fuels. The latest talks focused only on the Dubai agreement but did not reiterate an explicit call for a transition away from fossil fuels.

The countries also agreed to adopt Article 6, creating markets for trading carbon pollution rights. The idea was put forward as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement to help countries work together to reduce climate-damaging pollution. Part of this was a system of carbon credits, allowing countries to emit planet-warming gases into the air if they offset emissions elsewhere. Proponents said the U.N.-backed market could generate up to an additional $250 billion a year in climate change financial assistance.

Despite the approval, the carbon markets plan remains controversial, with many experts saying the new rules adopted don’t prevent misuse, don’t work and don’t give big polluters a reason to keep emitting emissions.

“They’re essentially undermining the 1.5 mandate,” said Tamara Gilbertson, climate justice program coordinator for the Indigenous Environmental Network. Greenpeace’s An Lambrechts called it a “climate scam” with many loopholes.

With that deal finalized and crews dismantling the temporary venue, many are looking forward to next year’s climate talks in Belem, Brazil.

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