Climate experts joining this year’s COP27 from Bangladesh has said that they have asked the developed countries to double their funds to climate-vulnerable countries within 2025 under a new roadmap.
Talking to UNB, experts said that they’ve demanded an increase in climate financing because the amount that was calculated earlier isn’t enough to meet the current challenges.
“We’ve asked for a roadmap where it’ll be clearly stated that which country will provide how much funds to which sector. The developed countries have to reiterate their pledges to provide funds for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change,” said Ziaul Haque, a climate expert and a representative from Bangladesh to COP27.
Ziaul added that climate vulnerable countries need USD 4 trillion to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and USD 7 trillion for putting the Paris Climate Agreement into practice.
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“This is why we’ve urged the rich countries to ramp up their funding,” the expert added.
Ziaul informed that discussions are being held to finalize the Global Goal on Adaptation laid out in the Paris Agreement at this year’s climate conference.
“The Paris Agreement doesn’t explain what has been meant by global goals, what are their targets and how these goals will be met. Countries joining COP27 are giving serious efforts to shape up these goals. We hope that these goals will be made effective by COP28 to be held in Abu Dhabi in 2023,” Ziaul said.
Mirza Shawkat Ali, another Bangladeshi representative to the conference, said that developed countries are toying with the idea of climate financing.
“Rich countries are finding various excuses to avoid funding for climate change. They’re saying that their economies are in a crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war and global economic slowdown. Although they had promised to provide funds in the Paris Agreement, in reality they haven’t released a single penny till now. This is the reason why climate vulnerable countries like us are very much vocal about climate financing this time,” said Shawkat.
Aminul Islam, an observer from Bangladesh, said that US President Joe Biden’s statement doesn’t comply with the Paris Agreement.
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“The United States is a big economy and a top carbon emitter. They should share the burden and provide their due funding. But Biden has said that the US will provide funds on an ad-hoc basis, which is against the pledges that his country had made in the Paris Agreement. The affected countries need USD 600 billion to adapt to Climate Change and the US should be the first country to share this amount,” said Aminul.