Baku: Discussions on a new climate finance target seem to be going in circles. Two long years and many iterations later, disagreements over issues such as the target amount, who provides the money and the source of the funding persist.

Late Wednesday evening, the countries contacted Zaheer Fakir of the United Arab Emirates and Fiona Gilbert of Australia, presidentially appointed co-chairs of COP29 of the United Nations Climate Conference, to resolve technical differences and finalize a draft of text for ministerial review, in order to “rationalize” a 34-page text. a draft that had been prepared overnight after the G77 developing country bloc and China rejected a seven-page framework that the co-chairs had prepared earlier.

With that, all options are back on the table. Developing countries are clear that the new climate finance target, which succeeds the $100 billion plan, must be about rich industrialized countries providing the finance. Developing countries said any text proposing to shift the burden of climate finance to them was unacceptable.

Explaining why the G77 and China rejected the seven-page draft framework, Africa Group President Ali Mohamed said: “The attempt to redefine commitments and obligations under the Convention and the he Paris Agreement has been the biggest obstacle to climate finance negotiations this year. , and here in Baku.”

Developed countries also had issues with the framework, particularly regarding the inclusion of language that would result in assessing the share of the total for which each developed country was responsible.

One of the main bones of contention concerns which countries would be responsible for achieving this goal. Developing countries are clear that the Convention and the Paris Agreement assign this obligation to developed countries. “The Convention is very clear regarding the flow of financing. There are established commitments and obligations. Developed countries should be the first to provide the financing, while developing countries are the beneficiaries,” said Ali. such as China and the United Arab Emirates constitutes a fundamental demand of developed countries. Speaking at the opening plenary, America’s top climate diplomat, John Podesta, said the new climate goal should be “tiered, with an ambitious and realistically achievable level of support involving new contributors”. The argument is that since 1992, when the Convention was negotiated, many developing countries have experienced economic growth and their emissions have also increased; these countries should therefore be included in the contributor base.

Developing countries argue that the Convention and the Paris Agreement impose responsibility on developed countries and that changing this fundamental principle amounts to renegotiating the Convention and the Paris Agreement.

“This is the fundamental principle of the Convention and the Agreement, and it is not something that we are willing to renegotiate again,” Ali said, emphasizing: “We cannot reopen the Convention and l ‘Agreement for new negotiations’.