At the COP29 climate talks taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, this week, the Africa Group is calling for a new climate finance goal to deliver $1.3 trillion per year by 2030.
This goal, known as the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), represents the Global North’s share of the finance required and would be a bold step towards tackling the climate crisis. This is not just an arbitrary demand, but a necessary call for fair action that recognises the needs of developing countriesand our specific climate vulnerabilities.
In a world where the climate crisis is worsening, Africa’s needs are urgent and expansive. This call for $1.3 trillion annually reflects the growing recognition that the cost of inaction will far outweigh the investment required to mitigate and adapt to the climate challenges ahead.
The figure is firmly grounded in climate assessments, which underscore the reality that this goal is not only feasible, but crucial for meeting developing countries’ needs.
It’s worth remembering that for many years, the global climate finance conversation has been dominated by the struggle for rich countries to meet their promise to mobilise $100 billion a year by 2020, which they made in 2009 and was delivered two years late in 2022.
Despite repeated pledges, there has been a significant gap between promises and actual delivery. Thus, the new proposal for the NCQG seeks to avoid the pitfalls of this past failure by emphasising the need for a clear and binding target.
By calling for a more substantial figure and the inclusion of both public and private finance, developing countries aim to transform the framework for financial contributions from a vague commitment to concrete, accountable action.
To ensure that the goal remains realistic and measurable, the African Group has insisted that the NCQG must be outcome-based and focused on tangible results in areas such as adaptation, loss and damage, just transition and emissions reductions. This will ensure that climate finance is not simply funnelled into generic funding streams, but directly contributes to meaningful climate outcomes.
At the heart of this vision is the need for fairness and responsibility. Developed countries must take the lead in mobilising this finance, in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement.
In summary, those principles are: if you break it, you have to fix it. Africa’s position is clear: developed countries, due to their previous emissions, have a historical responsibility to finance climate action in developing countries, and the NCQG must be structured to ensure that they do not just pledge, but deliver on their commitments.
The call for public finance lies at the core of this vision for the NCQG. Public finance, particularly in the form of grants, is crucial for enabling climate action in developing countries.
Developing countries emphasise that any attempt to mobilise this finance must prioritise public financing—especially given the high cost of capital in many developing countries, especially African nations, coupled with the existing debt burdens.
This dual challenge severely limits their fiscal space to invest in the urgent climate actions required.
Adaptation
Moreover, the goal’s design must facilitate the scaling up of climate finance to support a range of initiatives, from adaptation to the impacts of climate change to investment in clean energy.
Adaptation, in particular, remains a critical focus for Africa, where countries face the brunt of climate impacts, from ravaging droughts to devastating floods.
In addition to the costs of implementing the Global Goal on Adaptation, the financial resources needed to close the adaptation finance gap must be an integral part of the NCQG.
Africa’s specific circumstances—its vulnerability to climate impacts, its development challenges, and its role in the global climate ecosystem—must be fully acknowledged under this new funding regime.
Another major concern for Africa is the systemic issues that currently block effective climate finance flows. Africa has repeatedly highlighted the barriers to accessing climate finance, which often stem from bureaucratic complexities, inadequate institutional capacities, and burdensome application processes.
This lack of access to climate finance has stymied climate action on the continent, and to address this, the NCQG should ensure that access to finance is streamlined and fair for all developing countries.
This would best be supplemented by reforms of the current global financial architecture, which in the year 2024 remains ill-equipped to address the scale of the climate crisis.
The African Group advocates for a system that enables a more risk-tolerant approach from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), which must be capitalised sufficiently to meet the financing needs of developing countries, particularly for long-term, large-scale climate projects.
This is why, at the talks in Baku, Africa’s proposal includes a crucial temporal component—a five-year goal for the NCQG, which would be subject to periodic reviews, revisions, and updates.
This approach aligns with the five-year Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) cycle, ensuring that the overall figure of climate finance is dynamic and reflective of the latest science and needs of vulnerable people.
This would ensure that the NCQG remains responsive to emerging challenges and shifts in the climate landscape.
Finally, the NCQG must prioritise transparency and accountability. The Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) established under the Paris Agreement provides the blueprint for transparent reporting and accountability mechanisms.
It is essential that climate finance is counted in grant-equivalent terms, and that market-rate loans are not misleadingly counted as climate finance. To facilitate this, there must be regular progress reports on the mobilisation and delivery of the NCQG, allowing for a clear assessment of whether the goal is being met and where adjustments may be necessary.
The African Group’s call for $1.3 trillion in annual climate finance by 2030 represents more than a numerical target—it is a critical step in shifting the global conversation on climate finance from pledges to real, transformative action.
For Africa, this goal is not just about numbers; it’s about ensuring the survival and thriving of its people and ecosystems in the face of a climate crisis that continues to unfold.
Developed countries must step up, fulfil their historical obligations, and work with African nations to create a more just and resilient world. The NCQG is a blueprint for that future.
Mr Adow is the founder and director of Power Shift Africa.
