Bonn Talks Expose Tensions Over Climate Finance as Roadmap to COP30 Remains Unclear

The hosts of the most recent UN climate talks are concerned that international lenders are retreating from their commitments to help boost funding for developing countries’ response to global warming, reported AFP.

Major development banks have agreed to boost climate spending and are seen as crucial in the effort to dramatically increase finance to help poorer countries build resilience to impacts and invest in renewable energy.

This trend originated with the Trump administration’s move to slash foreign aid and discourage US-based development lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from focusing on climate finance.

Developing nations, excluding China, will need an estimated $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 in financial assistance to transition to renewable energy and climate-proof their economies from increasing weather extremes.

This amount has not been committed anywhere so far.

At the 2024 UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, rich nations agreed to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate. India strongly opposed the outcome. “Extremely, extremely disappointed with this incident… We absolutely object to this unfair means followed for adoption,” said Indian negotiator Chandni Raina said at the summit in November 2024.

Deep Divisions Emerge at Bonn Climate Talks

At the start of the mid-year UN Climate Talks on June 16 in Bonn, Germany, UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell advised governments that the roadmap for mobilising $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 should not be “just a report, but a how-to guide with clear next steps on dramatically scaling up climate finance and investment”, reported Climate Home News.

To achieve this goal, countries will need to move past divergent views about where the finance will be sourced from, what form the money should come in, questions of fairness and accessibility. Negotiators will also have to define actual mechanisms that ensure timely and equitable flow of funds.

Some delegates have reportedly complained in Bonn that the process for compiling this roadmap is unclear.

According to Climate Home News, India has said that global taxes and plans to raise money from specific sectors should not be part of the climate finance roadmap. However, a recent Greenpeace and Oxfam survey found that 80% of Indian respondents support taxing fossil fuel corporations for the pollution they cause.