Jakarta—As COP29 begins in Baku, Azerbaijan, the global spotlight is again on climate. High on the agenda are scaling up climate finance and accelerating the energy transition to curb global emissions.
“We need to mobilise public and private finance at a much higher scale,” said Alden Meyer, Senior Associate at E3G, told the media on the sidelines of the conference on November 11. “We also need to see progress on other elements of the agreement from Dubai, particularly on the energy transition. Not just tripling renewable energy output by 2030 and doubling the rate of energy efficiency but also implementing the transition from fossil fuels that countries agreed to a year ago.”
As climate-induced disasters devastate communities worldwide, securing a robust financial package remains a priority. Joab Okanda, a climate policy and energy expert, stressed the urgency: “This particular COP is very important, and that is why 200 countries are here to agree on a finance package that delivers for the communities that are losing their lives, losing their loved ones, losing their livelihoods.”
He underscored the summit’s critical nature, adding, “No one should lie to us that this COP is not important. This COP is very important, and that is why 90 world leaders are here. Those who are not here, their delegations and ministers will be here.”
Despite some scepticism about the effectiveness of international climate summits, Alex Scott, Senior Associate for Climate Diplomacy at ECCO, highlighted the continued value of multilateralism. “What we’ve seen here is leaders prove to the world that multilateralism and climate cooperation is still happening,” Scott noted. “You can see in the hallways here that it is happening—you can see disagreements over the agenda for these talks, emphasizing the importance of being in the room to put your issue forward, to collaborate with other countries over how to solve this crisis. This is about proving that climate cooperation still works.”
As negotiations unfold, the world watches with anticipation, hoping for decisive action and commitments to pave the way for a sustainable future.
ADB increases climate change-related lending to USD7.2 billion
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced an increase in climate change-related lending to USD 7.2 billion after the United States and Japan guaranteed some existing loans. This support is important in enhancing climate finance capacity, especially as COP29 kicks off on November 11 in Azerbaijan.
The initiative offers a model other development banks can adopt to address climate change financing challenges. ADB said the US will guarantee up to USD1 billion, while Japan will cover USD600 million, allowing ADB to expand its climate lending capacity.
“The structure is a fantastic way of extending a multilateral development bank’s (MDB) lending capacity without going through the politically difficult situation of a general capital increase,” which would need to come from fresh country donations, Jacob Sorensen, director of partner funds at the ADB, told Reuters on Monday, November 11.
Under the new strategy, ADB will use the additional lending space generated over the next five years, with a guarantee of up to 25 years. ADB targets cumulative lending of USD100 billion for climate change-related projects from 2019 to 2030. As of 2023, ADB has recorded lending of USD 9.8 billion for climate projects.
ADB is also preparing several projects to benefit from this policy, one of which is a project in Pakistan that utilises used cooking oil as sustainable aviation fuel. Sorensen added that about half of the total USD 90 million funding for the project will come from the ADB scheme, with the agreement scheduled for November 20. (Hartatik/nsh)
