Joint statement by Amar Bhattacharya, Vera Songwe and Nicholas Stern, Co-Chairs of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance: “We welcome the agreement at the COP29 United Nations climate change summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, about the new collective quantified goal for financial support for developing countries. It is important that work starts immediately on scaling up external finance from all sources for developing countries towards a target of $1.3 trillion per year by 2035. The commitment from developed countries of $300 billion per year by 2035 primarily from bilateral and multilateral sources of public finance is an important advance on current levels, but falls short significantly of the at least $390 billion a year by 2035 which our work shows would be required to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement. It is important that work starts immediately on the urgency of delivery, the quality of and access to finance, and reducing the cost of capital. Therefore we welcome the emphasis in the agreement on the new goal on delivery, monitoring and transparency. It is crucial to work together to begin ramping up financial support from all sources immediately to assist developing countries in making stronger pledges for action in the national determined contributions that are due to be submitted ahead of the COP30 United Nations climate change summit in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025. The investment unlocked by this financial support can drive sustainable growth in developing countries whilst decreasing emissions and reducing risks to the benefit of the whole world.”

The Third Report of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, which was published on 14 November 2024, can be accessed here.

Visit our COP29 page for further details of our publications and activities related to the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Summit.

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