A group of the least developed countries at the global climate conference in Brazil on Tuesday criticized the sluggishness of the annual UN summits as producing meagre results while the climate crisis is causing destruction everywhere and costing human lives.
“We meet, we speak, we discuss, we promise. We postpone, and then wait again,” said diplomat Evans Njewa from Malawi in Belém, Brazil, where the 30th UN Climate Change Conference COP30 is currently taking place.
At the first plenary session of the nearly 200 countries, he reiterated the demand of dozens of developing countries that industrialized nations must triple their government climate aid to at least $120 billion by 2030 to help them adapt to the fatal consequences of global warming.
Njewa spoke on behalf of 44 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
He said life for many people there was a struggle for survival. Women had to travel long distances to fetch water, and farmers lost their crops season after season.
“Floods, droughts, and hunger have stretched our endurance, not just in Africa, but including the Caribbean and the Asia Pacific.”
Needs many times higher than aid
An Indian climate diplomat also recalled the legal obligation of industrialized countries under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement that rich countries must provide climate aid to developing countries. She referred to a new UN report which states that the needs far exceed current financial flows.
The new UN report on this shows that developing countries will need at least $310 billion annually until 2035 – 12 times the current level of international public funding.
On behalf of the Group of 77, which also includes China, Iraq demanded that climate aid from industrialized countries be significantly increased. In the outdated UN logic, China is still classified as a developing country and is therefore not a donor but a recipient country.
A representative of Tanzania, speaking on behalf of the African states, said that the conference in Brazil must deliver solutions that ensure financing is based on voluntary payments and is predictable and easily accessible.
EU points to its role as largest donor
A Danish climate diplomat, speaking for the European Union, noted that the EU and its member states, together with the European Investment Bank, are already the largest donors of public climate aid. In 2024 alone, €31.8 billion ($36.9 billion) was provided and a further €11 billion in private funding was mobilized to support developing countries. The EU stands by the target agreed last year that industrialized countries will provide at least $300 billion in climate finance annually by 2035, she said.
