Last week, history was made when 200 countries, most of them from the Global South were able to coerce the Global North for paying its due to Mother Earth, by agreeing to allot funds for their past omissions in the Global South, as a result of which most countries in the Global South face enormous burden on how to mitigate the negative impact of fast paced climate changes to their economies and citizens.
The world agreed to a new climate deal at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, last Saturday, with wealthy countries pledging to provide $300 billion annually by 2035 to poorer countries to help them cope with the increasingly catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis – a figure many developing countries criticised as vastly insufficient.
The agreement came after more than two weeks of bitter divisions and fractious negotiations, thrown into chaos by boycotts, political spats, and open celebrations of fossil fuels.
At times there was fear the talks would implode, as groups representing vulnerable small island states and the least-developed countries walked out of negotiations Saturday. But on Sunday, more than 30 hours after the deadline, the gavel finally went down on the agreement between nearly 200 countries.
The Deal
The agreement would provide $300 billion annually by 2035, boosting rich countries’ previous commitment to provide $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020. That earlier goal was met two years late, in 2022, and expires in 2025. The deal also lays the groundwork for next year’s climate summit, to be held in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, where countries are meant to map out the next decade of climate action.
The summit cut to the heart of the debate over the........